By Vicki Mynott, Dana Doolan and Marie Keane
From Before Forest Lake, adapted for print by Jamie Furness
The stories of a number of Forest Lake residents were recorded in 1998, 2009 and 2016-2017.
Their combined memories provide a glimpse of those early days the suburb became established.
Stacey Bridge
Excerpt from “The History of Forest Lake: At the Halfway Mark” by Dana Doolan (1998) p6.
“From the first time I visited Forest Lake, I knew that it was going to be somewhere special to live. Of course at that time it was not called Forest Lake, but Ellen Grove.
While living at Coopers Plains I received a promotional flyer in my letterbox. ‘Land Sale’, it said, and it seemed to be a little patch of earth that someone wanted to sell off. Boy was I wrong. After visiting Lavender Court and falling in love with it we spoke to the developers. They filled us in on their plan for 20,000 residents. We signed up immediately.
So at the tender age of 19, I became the youngest purchaser of the first traditional blocks. That was in April 1991. We moved into our new home on December 20, 1991 and haven’t looked back. We were about the tenth household to move into Forest Lake.
It was a bit of a shock at first as there were no street lights, no shops, no phone box, no close service station, no school, no lake and almost no Forest Lake Boulevard! The Boulevard only ran from the sales centre at Garden Road to Rudyard Street. To get to Woogaroo street you had to go into Rumbold Street (now called Coriander Place). I can remember a sales consultant taking us in his four wheel drive to drive to the centre of the proposed lake.
Rae Littlejohn – Planning Forest Lake
Excerpt from residents stories provided by Marie Keane for the book ‘150 years – Richlands, Inala, and Neighboring Suburbs in Brisbane’s South West.’
In 1988, Rae Littlejohn was Strategic Planning Officer for Brisbane City Council, involved with the long-term development of the Brisbane area. He was, in this capacity, approached by a developer seeking to have this area of Doolandella rezoned from rural to urban. To Rae, the proposed housing development seemed feasible, but only if the proposed development included all amenities and infrastructure pre-planned and included in the Land Cost Budget. Having been assured of this, he then recommended the rezoning – which led to Forest Lake.
Rae and his wife Barbara lived at The Gap and in 2003 when they decided to downsize, Rae knew exactly where he wanted to go. The planned development he had seen in 1988 had become a reality, the suburb of Forest Lake. It consisted of small “villages” developed in stages and with many trees, parkland walking tracks and open spaces. Rae and Barbara purchased a house not far from the lake and the move was made. Being community minded, Rae went on to be the instigator and driving force behind the Lake Blue Riband – an annual event from 2006 to 2008, of timed trial runs around the Lake.
Jack Dunning – Community House
Excerpt from residents stories provided by Marie Keane for the book ‘150 years – Richlands, Inala, and Neighboring Suburbs in Brisbane’s South West’.
In 1992 Jack and his wife Irene were looking forward to retirement and wanting to downsize from a large home in Jindalee. They visited display homes at Forest Lake, saw one they liked, bought it on lease-back and moved here in 1994. Jack had been involved in an initiative that began with an idea conceived by some far-sighted residents and which came to wonderfully successful fruition – the establishment of a Community House.
The idea was to establish a meeting place centrally located within the suburb where functions, meetings and classes could be held, with the hire being a reasonable cost to residents. The idea took root in 1997, and Delfin donated the land on the corner of Forest Lake Boulevard and Kauri Place. Grants were received from the Commonwealth Government, State Government and Brisbane City Council. Residents made monetary contributions by “buying a brick.”
The hall became a reality in 1999, with $50,000 still owing – which was paid off in five years. The Community House is administered by a committee. It is well-maintained and includes one large and one small area for hire. A spacious rear deck has been added.
Glenn Mostyn – Community Bank
Excerpt from residents stories provided by Marie Keane for the book ‘150 years – Richlands, Inala, and Neighboring Suburbs in Brisbane’s South West’.
Glen and his wife Pam moved here from Keparra in 1992. They bought land and built in Settlers Village, and later downsized to a town cottage within the suburb. Glenn Mostyn could be called “Mr Community”. Over the years he has been involved with almost every community initiative undertaken in the area. In 2002, Glenn began what was to become his passion – the establishment of a community bank.
From 2002 Glenn worked tirelessly to achieve a start-up capital of $220,000, and the Heritage Building Society Forest Lake Community Bank opened up in 2005. In 2010 he was the Chairman of the Forest Lake One Community, a small group of investors and Heritage staff who are responsible for safeguarding the funds and directing a percentage of profits back to the community.
The Lake News thanks the Richlands-Inala History Group for providing this article.
