Veterinarians are warning dog owners to watch over their furry pets outdoors as an abundance of potentially poisonous mushrooms are sprouting across gardens and parks, following the storms that have lashed out in southeast Queensland. One dog owner in Kenmore learned the hard way how what he hoped would be a fun day in the backyard with his pet can quickly turn bad.
Jesse Milne’s eight-month-old Bull Arab-Wolfhound pup, Henry, developed welts in his body and experienced swollen eyes and mouth after eating mushrooms from their Kenmore backyard. Fortunately, the dog is now recovering from the severe reaction after his owner brought him to the veterinarian for antihistamines.
Henry’s struggles have been shared in Australian dog owner groups on Facebook to raise awareness.
According to the experts, these poisonous mushrooms commonly grow next to established trees during the warm, wet autumn weather across leafy suburbs like Kenmore. These bulbs produce a certain odour that may be appetising to dogs and even cats.
When furry animals ingest this mushroom, also known as the death cap or death angel, they experience gastrointestinal problems and could vomit — the first sign of poisoning. Thus, it’s critical for dogs to undergo fast detoxification as soon as possible as the level of toxicity is not easy to diagnose.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Other symptoms of mushroom poisoning might include diarrhoea, weakness, tremors and seizures, disorientation, vocalisation and hallucination. Some dogs might also incur liver damage as its body fights the toxins.
An existing development application for a new Kenmore cinema, the first commercial development in this western suburb in over 50 years, has been revived and is now open for public consultation. Just like when it was first proposed in 2019, however, reactions from the local community are conflicting and mixed.
Public feedback for DA A005160079 was opened in mid-February 2021, which cites plans to develop a residential block on Brookfield Road and Princeton Street into a retail and office space with a cinema, heaps of food outlets and 34 apartments.
Some submissions from the residents, so far, support the development but there have also been concerns raised, especially over the traffic at the Kenmore roundabout.
“This proposal will be great for the local businesses. Kenmore is dead in the evenings…there is little nightlife and restaurants really only do take away orders,” one local said. “Having a cinema will totally enliven the whole community. It will also offer jobs to school leavers close to their homes; make it safer for teenagers to go to the movies together; and enliven the whole community.
“Why should Indooroopilly have the monopoly on ‘Nights Out’ for people from Kenmore, Brookfield, Pullenvale and Moggill? This will be excellent for the Kenmore restaurants who normally struggle to keep afloat. Let’s look after our local businesses by adding this extra missing element!”
Photo Credit: PD Online/Brisbane City Council
“Already too many buildings in this area. We do not need more cafes, community halls, offices, etc. The congestion, which will be the result of such a development, will be awful. This part of Brookfield Road is very, very busy in the mornings and afternoons with general rush hour traffic as well as school traffic,” another local opposed.
“Why don’t we have some more green space? there are no plans or play areas for children in this part of Kenmore. With development, it means trees will be cut down. There will be noise, dirt and vehicle congestion during the building. Enough is enough.”
It comes as the public consultations for the long-awaited development of the Kenmore roundabout, located a kilometre away, has begun as well.
However, the application stated that the centre’s main access road will not be on Brookfield Road and street parking on Princeton Street will be restricted or completely removed while construction is ongoing.
Photo Credit: PD Online/Brisbane City Council
Per the traffic assessment report: “The proposed development is to gain access via two (2) all-movements entry/exit driveways located on Princeton Street and Bingham Street respectively. Vehicle access is to be located on the two (2) lower order street frontages. No vehicle access is proposed to be provided on Brookfield Road, being the higher order road.”
The report also suggested that cars could be reduced once the centre opens. The projection was that fewer people will be making the long drive to Indooroopilly or Jindalee to watch a movie since there’s a cinema in Kenmore.
Submissions to DA A005160079 will remain open until 1 April 2021. You may also file a submission via Development.i and input the DA number.
The upgrades to the Kenmore Roundabout are moving one step closer to construction as public consultations begin for one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in Brisbane.
On Monday, 8 March 2021, an interactive consultation page from the Federal Government will open online for the community to provide their inputs on the improvements needed for the Kenmore Roundabout.
Consequently, the government will hold in-person sessions at these dates and times below for residents and businesses interested in the project to talk with the planning team:
WHEN
WHERE
Saturday 13 March 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Kenmore Village shopping centre
Saturday 20 March 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Brookfield Market community display
Thursday 25 March 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Kenmore Village shopping centre
Tuesday 30 March 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Kenmore Village shopping centre
The community may also send emails to metropolitanregion@tmr.qld.gov.au or phone 3066 4338 during business hours for their enquiries, ideas and suggestions.
Both Federal and State Governments have committed $12.5 each for the project meant to “improve road traffic flow, the reliability of public transport and bike and pedestrian access, a big win for local commuters right across these transport modes,” according to Federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.
“The Kenmore roundabout is a high-traffic roundabout at key connection point used by western suburb residents heading to Brookfield or out to Pullenvale and beyond,” Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, the Hon Mark Bailey MP said.
“It’s also a key access point to Kenmore Village and the local retail precinct in that area, as well as Kenmore State School nearby. Installing traffic lights will better control traffic flow through the intersection, and we’re also providing new on-road bike lanes and dedicated pedestrian crossing facilities,” he added.
Photo Credit: Australian Government
Kenmore Roundabout Key features
Upgrading the roundabout by signalising the intersection.
New on-road cycle lanes
Installing safer facilities for people walking and riding with shared pathways and signalised crossings
The proposed creation of a Wessel Petroleum service station in Brookfield could have potentially disastrous consequences for the platypus population in Moggill Creek.
Despite the concerns raised by locals, Wessel Petroleum explained that the service station in the works will actually be beneficial for the site as it plans to raise the ecological value of the surrounding areas, revegetating the nearby creeks. People did not respond well.
Many locals objected to the plan, believing that run-off chemicals produced by the station would flow into the creek and cause harm to the platypuses that call it home. In order to prevent that, Storm Water Consulting (SWC) issued a report that suggests the damage could be mitigated with on-site wastewater treatment, sediment fences, and chemicals could be guided to small holding ponds to avoid disturbing the wildlife in Moggill Creek.
The reception of Wessel Petroleum’s station-to-be has not been positive, with many residents doubting the ecological measures proposed by SWC. The presence of other petroleum stations within the surrounding area, such as the ones in Kenmore, Bellbowie, Karana Downs, and many other suburbs also dissuaded locals as there was no need for more stations — especially not one that could bring harm to the neighbouring platypuses.
Platypus numbers have already been dwindled in recent years as uninhabitable waterways have forced them to disperse, and travelling on land is when they are at their most vulnerable to predators.
The 11th of February 2021, mere days before the Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day, has proven auspicious to one lucky winner, who managed to walk away with $100,000 after purchasing a $5 Instant Scratch-Its ticket from the local newsXpress in Kenmore Plaza.
Though the winner has chosen to remain anonymous, their good fortune goes to show that just about anyone can make it big and walk home with a heftier wallet. How the recipient intends to celebrate their newfound fortune remains a mystery, though it isn’t difficult to imagine the look on their face after learning about their win.
Instant Scratch-Its spokesperson Ally Ramsamy chimes in, sharing how previous winners spent their money. “Other winners have told us they use their windfall to upgrade their car, go on a holiday, or shout their family to a great celebratory dinner,” says Ms. Ramsamy.
Photo credit: mediacentre.thelott.com
What are Instant Scratch-Its?
Like most lotteries, Instant Scratch-Its offers players the chance to win a large amount of money after paying a small sum. Rewards vary depending on the cost of the ticket, and in the case of one lucky Kenmore local, a $5 ticket can land you the top prize of $100,000. However, what distinguishes this game from other lotteries lies in its name. Rather than waiting for the lucky draw, players will know if they’ve purchased a winning ticket in an instant after scratching the panels off.
Ticket prices range from $1 to $20, and the different games offered by Instant Scratch-Its vary depending on the scratch card purchased. The instructions on how each game is played can be found at the back of each ticket. Customers can buy tickets at licensed lottery outlets such as newsXpress Kenmore Plaza, Shop 4, 841 Moggill Road, Kenmore.
The pandemic crisis might have kept people indoors but it won’t stop bridge players from organising their socials. Since the restrictions, some 200 members of the Kenmore Bridge Club reshuffled their bridge activities to the online platform, building more challenges and bringing more excitement among the players who have never played online before.
Whether it’s to avoid boredom or to reconnect with friends, enjoying a bridge game online has been a fun learning experience. Kenmore Bridge Club members in their 80s or 90s patiently learned and got comfortable using technology like the BridgeBase Online (BBO) platform and Zoom, and the response has been overwhelming.
Tournaments online started to double as the members’ family or friends, some of whom live interstate, also joined the bridge games. Former members, who have stopped playing months before the lockdown due to immobility or sickness, have returned as well.
For a lot of these members, the weekly bridge games are a much-needed reward, escape, or distraction as they sit and concentrate on their strategy for two hours.
The club is also conducting online bridge lessons with eight 2.5 hours sessions followed by supervised bridge games. Some members also get help for setting up their computers and other gadgets.
For more details about the online bridge games, email anne@russellsynergies.com.au for your inquiries.
Displaced workers at the Lewis Bros Mitre 10 in South Brisbane will start working at the Kenmore site, located at the Kenmore Village Shopping Centre, after the 23-year-old Cordelia Street outlet closed down for good on Sunday, 6 Sept 2020.
Deliveries from the shuttered store will now come from the inner west site as well, which means there will be no job losses or halting of services from the former outlet.
Brett Richardson, the manager at the handyman store on Cordelia St, said that the rents were “unrealistically high” thus they decided not to renew the lease. Warwick Lewis independently owns both the South Brisbane site and the Kenmore store under the Mitre 10 brand.
Photo Credit: Lewis Bros Mitre 10 Kenmore/Google Maps
Currently, the Cordelia St site has no existing development application. With the current public health crisis, the building might remain closed for a long time.
“Sadly this is a common phenomenon in the inner-city… Even when a property owner has no immediate plans to redevelop a site, they often prefer to keep properties empty because they can claim it as a tax write-off. They advertise it for lease at an unreasonably high rent, and when they can’t find any takers, they leave it vacant and declare it as a loss for tax purposes,” Councillor Jonathan Sri posted on Facebook following the business closure.
“The loss of retailers like this means that residents have to drive further away if they need hardware supplies, which in turn generates more traffic, and makes it harder for people to live a car-free lifestyle.”
Photo Credit: Lewis Bros Mitre 10 Kenmore/Google Maps
Kenmore’s Mitre 10 outlet is 12 km off South Brisbane or a 21-minute drive on Milton Rd. The Elizabeth St outlet is closer but it’s owned by a different independent entrepreneur.
A 3.25-hectare property owned by the Sunland Group is up for grabs in Kenmore. Dubbed Kenmore Views, the site on 20 Margaret Court has existing development approval from the Brisbane City Council.
Kenmore Views was planned as a 96-unit premium townhomes development near the Brisbane CBD and the Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. However, under the new conditions of the Council’s planning parameters, the site will likely be one of the last few townhomes to be built in the western corridor in the next couple of years. Thus, its development approval is now deemed rare.
“In Kenmore, Brisbane City Council planning parameters have effectively ‘banned townhouses’, meaning townhouse sites are becoming increasingly rare and highly sought-after,” Adam Rubie, the development site manager said in a statement.
“At present, there is a very limited supply of new apartments in inner Brisbane, with the inner west representing approximately 4 percent of future apartment supply across Brisbane’s inner city,” he added. “Stock is rapidly declining to a point where our research outlines there will be less than five projects above 50 apartments, under construction across the inner city by the end of 2021.
“For this reason, we are anticipating strong interest for both assets, from local, interstate and international developers and investors.”
Photo Credit: Google Maps
The Council voted on banning townhomes and apartment blocks to protect the character of low-density residential suburbs in November 2019. The move came after a series of consultations with the developers and the community since September 2018.
“We regularly see amendments to the plan come through and the plans are a living, breathing thing, so we will continue to see changes going forward, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said. “These changes are based on the changing needs of the community, based on feedback, and also based on the need to provide more housing in Brisbane as our population grows. It is my belief that low density should be low density, and that is exactly what we are putting forward.”
A special school and three new primary schools are set to be built and completed in 2022-2023 in Queensland’s southeast region, including one that will stand between Kenmore and Indooroopilly in the western suburbs.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the plans in the Parliament Tuesday, adding that the projects will have an allocated budget of $245 million.
Ms Palaszczuk has identified the location of the special school in Coomera. The new site should ease off the overwhelming number of children in existing special needs schools in Logan (Beenleigh Special School) and Southport (Southport Special School).
The new primary schools, on the other hand, have been planned for Greenbank in North Maclean near Logan, the south of Caloundra, and a yet to be determined suburb in Brisbane.
“A new primary school will also be built at a location to be identified in Brisbane’s inner west,” the Premier said. This school, which will have a $65 million budget, is expected to reduce overcrowding at schools in Indooroopilly, Toowong, Kenmore and St. Lucia.
Education Minister Grace Grace said that there will be an “extensive community consultation process” to determine which Brisbane inner west community will best benefit from having a new school. Preparing Queensland’s education infrastructure will also provide employment opportunities.
“We are focused on getting people back to work as we unite and recover from the global COVID-19 pandemic, with these projects expected to support more than 870 local jobs,” Ms Grace said. “These projects are building on our record investment in building new schools and expanding existing schools in high growth areas.”
MP for Moggill Dr Christian Rowan welcomed the news with much excitement, having campaigned for a new school in Brisbane’s inner west for years.
“Our schools have been so severely overcrowded that classrooms are full, pool and library time is limited, before and after-school care services have long waitlists and demountable classrooms are being erected on school ovals, encroaching on students’ play area,” he said. “I’m so excited they’ve listened to the community.”
Greg Adermann was elected Councillor for Pullenvale Ward in March 2020. In this column, Cr Adermann reminisces about how his years in journalism, sports and event management, and marketing management, have all led to his present life of service to his constituents.
Presenting a major event is a lot like a duck swimming. Everything on the surface appears calm but underwater, the duck is paddling furiously. There is so much going on behind the scenes and if all goes to plan, nobody notices. People enjoy the event and go home happy.
It’s a real buzz seeing a major event like State of Origin or a concert come together and the look of satisfaction on people’s faces as they leave the venue.
Contrary to what many people believe, you don’t sit around watching events when you work at a major venue. Everyone has an event day role and if they all do their job, everything goes like clockwork.
There were a number of standout moments in the 17 years that I spent with ASM Global. State of Origin for me is the biggest event on our sporting calendar, so they always rate highly. The best is when Queensland wins and the Origin moment was the Billy Slater individual try in 2004.
Billy Slater in State of Origin at Suncorp (Photo Credit: Suncorp Stadium)
Concerts are huge and of the 25 or so we presented, Paul McCartney was my favourite. As a massive Beatles fan, nothing was ever going to top that. Coming within two metres of him as he left the venue was an unexpected bonus.
Paul McCartney performing at Suncorp (Photo Credit: Suncorp Stadium)
The Welsh fans staying back after losing the 2003 Rugby World Cup quarter-final to England and singing “Delilah” was another special moment.
Stephen Moore (Reds), Jordan Henderson (Roar), and Sam Thaiday (Broncos), three captains at the Stadium (Photo Credit: Suncorp Stadium)
Getting to know Jeff Horn, who beat Manny Pacquiao on one fateful July afternoon in 2017 to claim a world boxing title, and working with such a professional team from Liverpool when they played an exhibition game at the Stadium, were also very memorable events.
Jeff Horn won the WBO World welterweight title in the Battle of Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium (Photo Credit: tss.ib.tv)
Indeed, I am grateful for a life filled with very special moments.
I come into the role of an elected public official at the most challenging time imaginable. Who would have thought at the start of my journey in late January that the world would look the way it does today?
I come from a simple background. Born and educated in Kingaroy, I lived on a farm for a number of years. I began my career working in country and regional newspapers and in television, before moving to Brisbane to pursue my dream of becoming a State Government Ministerial Press Secretary.
After eight years in that role, I evolved into a communications and marketing executive in the corporate world, a role that I did up until seeking pre-selection.
I’ve been fortunate during the past 28 years to have worked for a number of blue-chip companies, including Telstra, Foxtel, the International Management Group and most recently, ASM Global, previously known as AEG Ogden, the company to whom I owe my Suncorp Stadium moments.
In 1991, my wife Cia and I built our home in Chapel Hill and raised our family. We still live there today. We part-owned and managed a small business in Kenmore for about five years and have been active in local School and community groups, building many friendships that will last a lifetime.
I am proud to be a member of the Kenmore Rotary Club and intend remaining so, helping out with the outstanding work they do whenever I can.
At the Kenmore Bears jersey presentation night (Photo Credit: Suncorp Stadium)
I’m also proud to be a Life Member of the Kenmore Bears Junior AFL Club, despite never having kicked an AFL ball in my life. Together with a number of other local parents, we helped save what was an embattled Club and today, I look with pride at how the current group of volunteer parents have taken it to another level.
I made a promise then, as their local representative, and will honour my undertaking to be available, transparent, consultative, and accountable. I won’t advocate a position to Council until I’m certain about what my constituents think first.
It was pretty obvious early into my campaign what the main issues were. In no particular order, these are:
the proposed Bellbowrie Green Bridge;
traffic congestion on Moggill Road;
improved public transport services; and
the need for a local community centre.
Given that three of these issues have a common theme, I am excited to have been appointed to Council’s Public and Active Transport Committee. I look forward to working with my colleague, Cr Murphy, as its Chair to determine the strategy for how we can take these services to another level, not only in my Ward but for our great city.
I would like to thank the majority of residents in the Pullenvale Ward who put their trust in me to represent them in City Hall for the next four years, as a proud member of “Team Schrinner.”
Proud to be on Team Schrinner (Photo Credit: Facebook/Greg Adermann)
What the Lord Mayor achieved on the 28th of March was a monumental feat, coming out on top with his personal vote and retaining all 19 Wards for the Liberal National Party. Clearly, his message that “experience matters in such times” resonated with the electorate.
As the Lord Mayor reminded us after the election, we all need to get back to work as quickly as possible and do whatever we can in our communities to assist in Brisbane’s recovery efforts.
It is an unbelievable honour to serve. My pledge to everyone, irrespective of who they voted for, is to work hard and tirelessly in their interests, and not let them down.
That is precisely what I have been doing, working hard to identify those at most risk who need help.
My life and professional experience, coupled with the support of my fellow Federal and State representatives, local community groups and leaders, have prepared me well for the challenges that await.
Who knows, I may even have time to go back to the Stadium, this time as a fan. I suspect though, that I’ll always be looking around picking up little things that mostly go unnoticed. Old habits die hard, particularly when they have served one in good stead.
Greg Adermann is the Councillor for Pullenvale Ward, which comprises the suburbs of Anstead, Bellbowrie, Brookfield, Karana Downs, Kenmore, Kenmore Hills, Kholo, Lake Manchester, Moggill, Mt Crosby, Pinjarra Hills, Pullenvale, Upper Brookfield and parts of Chuwar and Chapel Hill.
Cr Adermann can be reached via email at pullenvale.ward@bcc.qld.gov.au
