Newmarket - Grange Progress Association

Progress associations were formed in many suburbs of Brisbane from the 19th century onwards. Some, including the Grange Progress Association (now the Newmarket-Grange Progress Association) are still operating at present. Although widespread in Australian towns and cities until the mid-20th century, Progress Associations are a less common phenomenon today. Surviving progress association halls elsewhere in Brisbane include the Salisbury Public Hall which has been lowered and substantially altered. 

Established by concerned residents, progress associations lobbied local and state government authorities for the provision of necessary services such as schools, police stations and public transport. They were defined by one Brisbane advocate in the 1940s as ‘a union of the residents of any locality with the object of improving living conditions for themselves through the development of their district in particular, and the country in which they live in general’.  Progress Associations tended to emerge particularly in areas with a large middle class component and/or in newly developing districts. Nearby Wilston also had a Progress Association during the 1920s, which was involved in the lobbying for the tramway extension to the Grange.

The block of land on which the hall is built was purchased by pastoralist, Boyd Dunlop Morehead, in 1898 when he was Premier of Queensland. Morehead mortgaged the land to the Queensland National Bank the same year and in 1899, the land was transferred to the bank. From August 1923, a portion of the land on the corner of Daisy St and Wilston Rd was held in trust, presumably for the local Progress Association. Title was officially transferred to the Grange Progress Association in 1989.

The hall was reportedly built in 1923 in one day, with a fundraising dance held the same night. Funds towards the building of the hall were also donated by the Windsor Town Council. By 1929, membership of the Association had grown to 157.

By the early 1920s, Newmarket and the Grange were well established as residential suburbs, although the area retained its rural flavour for several more decades. Development was stimulated by the opening of the railway through Wilston and Newmarket in 1899. As the population grew in the first few decades of the 20th century, more community buildings and services were required. The Wilston State School was established in 1920 to cater to the educational needs of local families.

According to Mr George Ward, a long time member of the Newmarket Grange Progress Association, prior to the construction of the hall, the Newmarket-Grange Progress Association met in the home of its president, Mr Massey, on the corner of Wilston Road and South Street. However, Post Office Directories show the existence of a Progress Association Hall in Wilston Road, between Abuklea and Montpelier Streets (closer to the railway line) from 1915-16. 

The hall on the corner of Daisy Street and Wilston Road was initially quite small with window openings but no windows due to a lack of funds. As the Progress Association grew and funds were available additions and improvements were made to the hall. A sanitary block was added to the rear of the hall in 1951.

At present, the hall is used for many different community functions, including dancing and martial arts classes. Because of its long association with the local Progress Association and its use by various community groups over the decades, the hall has played an important part in the community life of local residents.

1. Brisbane City Council Building Cards

2. Brisbane City Council Minutes

3. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Maps

4. Brisbane Courier. 4 July 1932

5. Mullins, Patrick. Progress associations and urban development: the Gold Coast, 1945-79". Urban Policy and Research. Vol. 13, No. 2 (1995), 67-80

6. Queensland Certificates of Title

7. Ward, George. Newmarket-Grange Progress Association. Phone conversations, 16 April 1998 and 14 March 2002

8. Windsor and Districts Historical Society photographic collection