New Farm Park: ‘adventure playground’ to ‘Hinchliffe’s Hilton’
Former Councillor for Central Ward, former Brisbane City Council Deputy Mayor and now artist, David Hinchliffe has many memories of New Farm Park.
New Farm Park has played a very important role in my life. It has been my playground and at times my battleground!
My parents came to New Farm in the 60s from Toowoomba for my dad to work as Chief Subeditor at The Courier-Mail. We lived at the “Sarri brothers flats” (as we called them) at 113 Merthyr Road. They’d been built by the Italian immigrant family who we got to know well.
We had no real backyard so New Farm Park was our backyard and our ‘adventure’ playground. It was like that for almost all the other children of the suburb who in those days were allowed to roam the streets and the park virtually at will so long as they were back home for dinner time. It was where we kicked balls, swung on swings, climbed trees and participated in a few illicit activities like a furtive smoke in the bushes.
New Farm was different in those days. It was very much a migrant and worker suburb. It was tough. My best friend at school had false teeth because his real teeth had been knocked out of him in the playground at New Farm Park.
The kids at New Farm school would generally be described these days as ‘disadvantaged’. They may have been in terms of their parents’ income, but they were advantaged in the freedom and range of opportunities that they enjoyed.
The park was our meeting place — it was where we had fun and got up to a few innocent ‘tricks’.
I never imagined back then that I would one day be the Councillor for the area and in charge of all the parks in Brisbane – I doubt I even knew what a Councillor was.
Fast forward quarter of a century and helping to look after New Farm Park was a cherished part of my Council job.
I remember the San Giuseppe Italian festival which was always a focus for the Italian community all over Brisbane, as well as the thousands of locals who enjoyed Italian culture. I remember addressing the festival on one occasion thinking I was clever and addressing them in Italian. I wanted to say “Italians are great workers” but I got the word for working and washing mixed up so it came out “Italians are great washers”. There was a little confusion followed by a lot of laughter. They were very forgiving.
I remember the challenges associated with the park. I remember when the poincianas and the Jacarandas simply started to fall, however. They flattened cars and endangered lives – especially children. Most of the Poincianas are almost hollow from decay over the years. The long lateral branches put such as strain on them, they could collapse without warning at any time. That’s why there are so many ring fences discouraging people from coming near them.
The playgrounds in the park were always a lot of fun – but they also presented challenges. New Farm has always had a unique playground environment thanks to those magnificent ancient Moreton bay figs which are slowly expanding and colonising seating and play equipment.
For many years I was responsible for playgrounds across Brisbane. Whenever I received a safety report – especially if it was from the Playground Association– it had to be taken very seriously. On one occasion the Association strongly urged the removal of all old steam engines. They had become a feature of many parks across the city after they were decommissioned. Surprisingly they caused many accidents as they aged. The decision to remove them caused a minor uproar. My own two school-age boys even took up a petition against their dad to prevent it being removed from NF park. In the end, we decided to fence it off — so, it could stay, but it couldn’t be used. Not exactly a win-win. Eventually it was replaced (when my boys outgrew it!).
I know from firsthand experience in New Farm Park how dangerous some play equipment can be. An old log swing was one of my favourite swings for the kids. One day some friends brought their two boys to join our two boys playing in the park and one of their sons fell under the log swing. The bolts on the underside of the log seared his scalp right off! He was rushed to hospital where the scalp was saved, thankfully and reattached. It left me with a strong and sober appreciation for safety in play equipment.
One of my most enduring and controversial memories was about the issue of homelessness in New Farm Park. There were a lot of homeless people who made their ‘home’ under the bushes in the park. (Some still do.) Residents, businesses and police would regularly complain about them. They would be moved on from one part of the park and end up in another. If was an endless merry-go-round that satisfied no one.
In 2000 I decided to sit down with homeless people, the police and a wide group of organisations involved in the issue. Finding alternative accommodation for them was impossible. Because of their alcohol addiction they had been evicted from public housing and from every private boarding house. The park was their last resort. The homeless basically wanted to be left alone. The public, on the other hand, were frightened by their loud noise and public drunkenness. The community wanted them out of sight and out of earshot (and out of mind).
I decided to trial a compound in one remote corner of the park (this was before the CSR redevelopment). The compound had simple hessian walls for privacy.
I arranged to provide a toilet, a shelter, a barbecue and a shower (we didn’t even have hot water) for the use of the homeless. The moment the hessian walls went up, the issue exploded on the front pages of newspapers and on programs like Current Affair. It was even blasted in banner headlines in a two page spread in The Courier-Mail as “Hinchliffe’s Hilton”.
Half the residents of New Farm were outraged at what I had done. The other half of New Farm thought it was a great idea. I came under enormous pressure – as did the homeless residents of that space. I agreed that it would be a three-month trial. At the end of three months the decision was made by those higher up to remove the whole compound. However, it had raised the issue in the public’s eyes and pricked the consciences of politicians. Out of the closure of the compound came the idea to establish a Brisbane Housing Company (BHC) jointly established with property and funds from Brisbane City Council, Queensland Government and Federal Government, but run by the community housing sector. Almost quarter of a century later, BHC has constructed and runs over 2000 units for people who have previously been homeless. It all started in New Farm Park…
So, for me, New Farm Park has been both a playground and a battleground. It’s been a family sanctuary over the last 60 years and at times it’s been a political hotspot. Now, as a full-time artist I simply paint it! It is my ‘muse’.
I expect one day my ashes will provide compost for the beautiful roses in that historic park. A fitting end.