My first experience of Brisbane was World Expo 88. Visiting from Sydney with my Dad, we zipped around on the monorail, watched the nightly laser light shows, and marvelled at the bright future of a rapidly changing “BrisVegas” – entirely unaware that I would, eventually, be calling this city home.
The following year, when I was just 22, I bought a modest, one-bedroom flat in Kedron. No New South Wales bank would give me a mortgage at that age, but a Queensland bank backed me, and I became what would later be known as a “rentvester”, owning in Brisbane but living in a rented unit in Harbord – now Freshwater – on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Back then, there was no way I could afford to buy anything on that expensive slice of the coast, and I kept my Kedron unit for 13 years, finally selling it to buy my first home in Belrose.
But Brisbane wasn’t done with me. Decades later, I needed to escape a volatile situation on those same Northern Beaches. I fled to Queensland, initially looking at new townhomes in Norman Park. Then I realised I could buy a brand-new house-and-land package in a masterplanned community called Ellendale, Upper Kedron, for the same price. Sold.
So it’s a tale of two Kedrons, in fact.
The common misconception is that Upper Kedron must be right next door to Kedron. But the two suburbs are some 15 kilometres apart, separated west to east by Keperra, Mitchelton, Everton Park, Stafford Heights and Stafford. The explanation? We get our name from Kedron Brook, not Kedron proper.
The waterway notwithstanding, Kedron is highly urbanised, powered by the pumping artery of Gympie Road. Upper Kedron, by contrast, is surrounded on three sides by D’Aguilar National Park. Back in 2019, Canvey Road was a remarkably quiet place.
Not so today. The masterplanned reality has manifested as a dense sea of massive, two-storey family homes increasingly crammed onto microplots.
Despite having worked as a fact-checker in print and broadcast media, focused on truth-seeking, I managed to buy a suburban display home based on a developer’s glossy brochure that singularly failed to mention they were situated right on what would become the primary arterial road through the expanding estate.
Instead of quiet bushland bliss, I have heavy dump trucks rattling my windows six days a week, pounding past until 6.30pm. This endless line of heavy construction vehicles treats my “peaceful haven” like a major highway. I’ve been forced to install a double-glazed uPVC entryway just to keep the din out.
The Pensar water reservoir project is providing important infrastructure to the estate and while “every effort will be made to minimise impacts to the community”, the official masterplans tell me the work will continue until late 2027.
Despite the noise, I am grateful to be in my own home, far away from the turmoil of the Northern Beaches.
I am an outlier here – a self-proclaimed spinster librarian living with my cat Chloe in a heavily family-centric suburban estate. Conveniently, the Arana Hills library is just around the corner from the pool, allowing me to borrow books and converse with like-minded librarians.
As an avid animal lover, pet-sitting has become my passion, giving me a wonderful sense of productivity and purpose. Bushwalking on nearby trails is a fabulous stress reliever, and being so close to the native bush brings back pleasant memories of my childhood in Beacon Hill.
Honeyeaters dart frantically through the canopy, and scrub turkeys prowl the ground level, completely indifferent to the changing landscape. They offer a fleeting escape from the suburban sprawl.
In 2024, when Ellendale Village shops finally opened, we could hardly believe it. It was a long time coming. The car park is always full, but I prefer the walk as it’s so close to home. I seem to be in the IGA every other day. Their friendly staff always greet customers with a smile.
We have a chemist right next to our Upper Kedron Medical Centre. Now I can walk down to see my new GP, too. When I need it most, kind neighbours often step in to help me.
One of my warm-hearted neighbours has even been helping me with my gardening. This gentleman has trimmed my hedges, whipper-snipped the edges and donated cuttings. All this from a gent who has the most beautiful front garden in Canvey Road! Amazing to have neighbours who are so kind and giving living close by.
For Upper Kedron, I believe that peace will eventually return. But it might not be until after the Brisbane Olympics, when the new builds are finally complete, and the big trucks no longer dominate our horizons.