117 Dyson Avenue, Sunnybank

The agricultural industry and population of the area were boosted by the opening of the railway line from Yeerongpilly to Beenleigh in 1885. This was the first section of the planned railway to Logan and the Gold Coast. The new railway provided transport for the agricultural produce of the district when stations opened at Coopers Plains, Sunnybank (although this station was originally named Eight Mile Plains), Runcorn and Kuraby in 1885. The station name of Sunnybank was derived from the nearby ‘Sunny Brae Estate’. A formal stopping place was not provided at Banoon, between Coopers Plains and Sunnybank Stations on the Beenleigh line, until 1937.

James Francis Fordyce’s property was part of the 32 acre Portion 177, sold to William Dyson by Deed of Grant in 1867 for £32. Dyson Avenue is presumably named for this early property owner. The land was sold several times and subdivided before 2 acres were acquired by Fordyce in 1923. 

Postal records first list James Fordyce as a resident of Sunnybank in the 1924-25 directory. Electoral rolls for this period give his occupation as ‘mill hand’. Mr Fordyce and his wife, Eliza Ann Fordyce, established their home on Beenleigh Road before building a second house in Dyson Avenue during the 1930s. The house, along with some sheds and a small commercial building which reportedly date from the 1940s, is situated on a parcel of land bounded by Dyson Avenue and the railway line to the north, and Stable Swamp Creek to the south.

Both the layout and the name of Dyson Avenue have changed since the 1920s when part of the street was a continuation of nearby Keats Street. This section, which is shown on a 1951 map of the area as Troughton Road, once continued south across a bridge over Stable Swamp Creek to intersect with Beenleigh Road. Dyson Road now terminates at the southern end at Stable Swamp Creek.

By the time the Fordyce family settled at Sunnybank, the suburb had developed significantly since the time of the opening of the railway through the district as had the neighbouring localities of Eight Mile Plains and Coopers Plains. By 1923-24, some 70 households are listed in the postal directory for Sunnybank. Many of these families were involved in dairy or poultry farming, fruit growing or other produce, including Chinese families who had market gardens between Beenleigh Road and Keats Road in the swampy areas around Stable Swamp Creek. After the opening of the interstate railway to Kyogle in 1931, local produce could also be shipped by train to the southern states. Non-rural occupations at Sunnybank at this time reflected the usual necessary services of a developing township such as stationmaster, teacher, butcher, minister, and general store and post office.  With the railway providing relatively cheap public transport to the city, residents were also able to commute to the city or elsewhere for employment. Local businesses, such as that later established by the Fordyce family, provided retail and other services to the local community. 

  

The title of the Fordyce’s property on Dyson Avenue passed to Allan James Fordyce, an electrical mechanic, during the late 1940s-1950s (subdivision 2 at the southern end in 1949 and the larger subdivision on which the present house stands in 1955). An auto electrical business was established on the property during the 1940s. The family business with its accompanying sheds is still operating on the same site today, under the management of the present owner, Mr Ian Fordyce. 

The property, which includes an Interwar house, has retained its semi-rural setting, and is a reminder of the character and history of the area prior to World War II and urbanisation. Although the entire site provides a visual and historical context for the house, the sheds and automotive shop building are of lesser significance and do not necessarily need to be retained.

This house is notable as an important feature in the Dyson Street streetscape where the road wraps around the corner. Its current setting in an open landscape contributes to its semi rural charm where local residents have the opportunity to experience a remnant of the earlier residential settlement in this area.

1. Brisbane City Council Building Cards

2. Brisbane City Council. Kuraby District Local Area Plan Character Study. July 1996

3. Brisbane City Council 1951 Land Use Map

4. Kerr, John. Destination South Brisbane. Australian Railway Historical Society, Brisbane, 1984

5. Kerr, John. Railway notes data base compiled 1994

6. Queensland Certificates of Title

7. Queensland Commonwealth Electoral Rolls. 1925-1961

8. Queensland Post Office Directories

9. Sunnybank Historical Committee (Qld.). Local Areas of Folk History: Coopers Plains,  Sunnybank, Runcorn, Kuraby, Eight Mile Plains. Brisbane: Sunnybank Historical Committee, 199?
   
    

10. A.Ward Queensland Railway Heritage Places Study: Stage 2 Vol.4. April 1997