Category: North Harbour Heritage Park

North Harbour’s Home Lots Are No More than 325m from our 1000 Acres

Queensland’s Best Place to Live

Home buyers chasing property for sale in one of north Brisbane’s best value suburbs have been flocking to North Harbour. North Harbour was named Best Residential Subdivision in Queensland, in the 2018 Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Qld Awards for Excellence. The UDIA’s Judges said North Harbour showed excellence in a number of categories, including planning, community, sustainability, urban design and engineering and had distinguishing features such as our future 1000 acres of open space and parklands (which include our upcoming Heritage Park) that stood out for them.

North Harbour has introduced a new lifestyle destination into the Moreton Bay Region and offers a unique residential development in the rapidly expanding northern corridor between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The development offers numerous benefits for residents looking to buy property in Australia including the previously mentioned 1,000 acres of open space and parklands (two parks are complete with another three scheduled to be completed in 2019), high speed fibre optic broadband* and natural, reticulated gas to every home.

Property in Australia | Moreton Bay Region

The proposed 1,000 acres of open space and parklands include walking and bike tracks, Raff Creek eco-corridor, lots of trees (over 60,000 have already been planted) and plenty of play equipment for young and older kids as well as exercise equipment. North Harbour also offers regular, free events including parkrun and yoga. All homes in North Harbour will be within 325m of open space and / or parklands.

Property in Australia | Parklands

 

North Harbour Heritage Park

The North Harbour Heritage Park is a new community attraction comprising a vast expanse of parkland, river access including a canoe launch / fishing platform and an interpretive centre focusing on the heritage aspect of the North Harbour site.

Property in Australia | Fishing

The Heritage Park is a three-year project which on completion at the end of 2019, will have invested over $3 million, with $1,535,062 of funds coming from the Federal Government through a funding agreement with the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology. Funding is through the Community Development Grants programme, provided through the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. The $1,535,062 Grant has been matched by North Harbour. The Abbey Museum and North Harbour are also working in partnership and providing significant “in-kind” support through project planning, project management, post-construction operation and maintenance.

The first stages of construction were completed in 2018, including roads and other infrastructure as well as picnic areas with shelters, BBQs, tables and benches and toilet facilities. As work progresses, the team is working to ensure the heritage remains are preserved and available for viewing and enjoyment by the general public.

Property in Australia | Heritage Park

Project Manager Bryan Finney said, “Construction is progressing well, we expect to start work on the interpretive building in the next few weeks. Work is also progressing on the Park infrastructure which includes a 1.5km walking track around the lake. As part of this work, the archaeologists monitoring construction have uncovered building foundations that were not previously known.

“We’re hoping to begin allowing public access by around the middle of the year with an official opening sometime in the second half of 2019.”

Retaining and preserving the historical remnants of the North Harbour site has been an important part of the North Harbour planning process. Following an application process initiated by the developers of North Harbour, the area has been listed and protected on the Queensland Heritage Register since 2011 as a place of Queensland State significance.

North Harbour’s Heritage Expert is Steve Chaddock from Timeline Heritage who is working with a team of archaeologists at the remains of the “Moray Fields” property that was built by George Raff at what is now the North Harbour site. Steve said: “We are looking to carefully record the exposed areas of the old house and its outbuildings and yards so that we can later interpret that to the public and in advance of a tree management program aiming to preserve the State Listed archaeological remains.”

The history of the site will be showcased in a dedicated “interpretive centre” that delivers a ‘mind map’ of the site before it is experienced first-hand by visitors. The centre will present historic photographs, sketches and display objects which will allow visitors to appreciate the stories and significant developments from the past up to the present day.

The Heritage Park area is currently able to be accessed on Saturday mornings at 7.00am for those participating in the free, weekly North Harbour River parkrun. For more information and directions please click here.

 

Find North Harbour

Looking to buy property in Australia? North Harbour’s Sales and Information Centre & Display Village with café and two playgrounds is open seven days a week, 10am-5pm. Located on the corner of Buckley Road and Fraser Drive, Burpengary East, the Display Village showcases 33 brand new home designs from 17 of Australia’s best builders. North Harbour recently won the UDIA Queensland Award for Best Residential Subdivision and is EnviroDevelopment Accredited.

For more information on building new homes at North Harbour, please click here. To keep up to date with the latest news, events and info, including our regular events, sign up for our email updates and find us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/northharbour/.

*Any product pricing and availability referenced in this or other North Harbour articles are accurate at the date of initial publication and are subject to change at any time without notice.  Please contact the North Harbour sales team for further information.

North Harbour’s Heritage Park – Preserving the Past and Creating Green Space for Future Generations

The North Harbour site has a long and interesting heritage in the past 150 years and has gone through several incarnations since it was first named Moray Fields in 1861. It was a Cotton Farm, a Sugar Plantation, a Dairy Farm and Pine Plantation in the years before North Harbour purchased it in 2005. We then worked through 10 years of planning and approvals before we welcomed our first residents, and Coral Homes opened the first home in our first Display Village in 2016.

Coral Homes

Originally Moray Fields was conceived as a cotton farm, with a company of business partners, one of which was George Raff. After this Cotton Business joint venture didn’t work out, the land was bought out by Mr Raff. He developed it as a Sugar Cane Plantation and Processing Works.

Heritage Park

Mr Raff was an early adopter of the technology available at the time, which he brought in to help with business activity. He introduced a loop of tramways constructed on timber foundations – a system for cut cane transport, which enabled a horse or two to haul heavy loads in from the fields more easily. Steam power was employed to drive the other machinery on the property.

Sugar cane was grown here for the production of sugar and also rum and molasses. The plantation was a substantial undertaking in what was then a remote area, being approximately 40 kilometres north of Brisbane. Access by land was difficult and links to the outside world were better via boats and small steamers. So, a ‘commodious wharf’ was built on the river for landing and embarking goods or produce in the small vessels required for maintaining communication with the capital.

Mr Raff was a prominent supporter of the use of Islander peoples as labour on plantations. It remains unclear how many Islander labourers worked on the plantation, but in the late 1860s newspaper reports of the time suggest up to 70 at a time. These workers came from several islands in the South Pacific, but particularly from modern day Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

In later years, the former plantation lands were divided into paddocks for grazing dairy cows, though some portions continued to be cultivated. Successive owners erected new buildings and structures, such as dips, sheds and fences. Some plantation-era buildings were re-used, including the ‘mansion’ and possibly some sheds by the Caboolture River.

Heritage Park

A Queenslander-style house was also built close to the lagoon for share-farmers and their families. In the 1950s, a new farm house complex was built, and the former plantation owner’s house abandoned and demolished. By the 1960s dairy farming had ceased and the land sold to A.P.M. Forests Pty Ltd. Most of the property was converted into pine plantation.

Heritage Park

North Harbour will soon feature a Heritage Park centred around the heritage–listed archaeological remains of the “Moray Fields” settlement.

The precinct, which is currently in development, will make the significant heritage features still remaining from the Moray Fields settlement, publicly accessible for the first time since European settlement. The Heritage Park will offer public access and parking, an interpretive building, walking trails, signage and picnic facilities to allow visitors and residents access to this important historic site.  A canoe landing and fishing platforms will also provide access to the Caboolture River.

Heritage Park

Retaining and preserving the historical remnants of the site has been an important part of the North Harbour planning process. The area has been listed and protected on the Queensland Heritage Register since 2011 as a place of Queensland State significance. The history of the site will be interpreted from a dedicated facility that delivers a ‘mind map’ of the site before it is experienced firsthand. The facility is proposed to present historic photographs, sketched and display objects which will allow visitors to appreciate the stories and significant developments from the past up to the present day.

Interpretation delivery will be provided in the landscape alongside a network of heritage trails and using static signage as well as digital content for mobile devices. The delivery of interpretation will be aimed at school-aged students as well as local, state and international visitors learning about local history and South Sea Islander heritage.

On a broader community level, the South Sea Islander history of the site has presented an opportunity to recognise the contribution made by past generations of South Sea Islanders and provide a tangible, visitable focus for the Island and Australian South Sea Islander community and their descendants. Space is made available for the South Sea Islander community to remember their ancestors at this place.

To find out more about the future Heritage Park click here and to learn more about our first ever display builder, Coral Homes, visit https://www.northharbour.com.au/display-village/coral-homes/.

Our Sales and Information Centre & 33 Home Display Village including Coral Homes’ three displays are open every day from 10am-5pm (closed for the Christmas and New Year holidays from 5pm Friday December 21st – opening at 10am on Tuesday 2nd January 2019). For more information regarding available house and land packages for sale at North Harbour or call our Sales Team on 5433 1111, or email . You can also browse house and land packages on our website here.

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