Redland City Council today announced that it will pay $4.1million to the Federal Government for 62 hectares of the Commonwealth lands in Birkdale.
The Council says that it asked the Federal Government to gift the land to the Council but the Government refused to do this.
The site, currently owned by Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) , is part of the Birkdale Commonwealth lands which include an adjacent 39 hectare property owned by Air Services Australia. The Air Services Australia property remains in Federal Government hands for the time being.
In 2018 the Federal Government indicated that the ACMA land could be sold for development of 400 homes. A petition signed by more than 6,000 people opposed the use of this land for housing. Many petitioners commented that the land should be retained as bushland.
The ACMA site is being sold to Council for the purpose of conservation and community use. The Council says:
The land is being sold to Council for the purpose of conservation and community use. It was an off-market sale that includes a Security of Purpose condition and a conservation agreement in line with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Cwlth) Act 1999. The conservation agreement is for the conservation and management of the flora and fauna within the existing zoned conservation areas and for heritage assets (Aboriginal and European) on the land.
The Council says “The 61.78ha site comprises 72% per cent protected conservation area and a cleared area of 17ha of useable land available for community purposes. “
In the Redland City Plan adopted in late 2018 the 17 hectares of “usable land” is zoned “CF8 Commonwealth facilities – radio receivers”. An extract of the City Plan zoning map covering the two parcels of the Commonwealth lands appears at the end of this article.
The Council asked the State Government to have the two parcels of the Commonwealth lands included in the urban footprint of the 2017 SEQ Regional Plan. The State Government did not agree, and in the final version of the plan this area was designated Regional Landscape and Rural Production Area.
The Council says “Widespread community engagement will be undertaken on future use of the strategic land. Expectations were raised in 2015 (a few weeks before the state election) that this land could be the site of a university.
More recently, expectations were raised that the currently defunct Alma Park Zoo could re-establish on the Birkdale Commonwealth lands, in a Bulletin story published on 1 April.
Redlands2030 – 13 April 2019
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4 Comments
The other US Army Transmitting site in the area during WWII was at the Redland Bay Golf Club
https://www.ozatwar.com/locations/redlandgolfcomms.htm
The vital importance of the Capalaba WW2 High Frequency radio receiving site is detailed under About/ Legacy on the Bayside District Amateur Radio Society’s website at http://www.bdars.org.au/
Details about the sister transmitting site at Hemmant are also included in this material. Later material about the Hemmant site use in WW2 is available at https://www.ozatwar.com/locations/hemmantts.htm
The WWII building that was part of the US Army Radio Receiving Site needs to be preserved. This site played a major role in communications between General Douglas MacArthur’s General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area in the AMP building in Queen Street and the Chiefs of Staff in Washington DC
Thank you Laurie Murray and Peter Dunn for highlighting the importance of the land Council is purchasing.
The MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia US has archives as well.
https://www.macarthurmemorial.org/
What have they got for us in their archives? Likewise, what have we got for them…e.g., the interview with WWII radioman (the late) Peter Oliveri?
With the 75th year end of Pacific War commemorations coming up in just over a year, there is time still to get the airwaves going again so groups here in Australia and further afield can get going on the commemoration of Peace in August 2020. Redland Coast Council can provide the venue for the receipt of that Peace telegram that came in there on that land but they can’t do it all on their own.