Editorial
Around 10 years ago Wynnum Central had an opportunity to reinvent itself by creating a unique public space in its heart – and largely missed it. This was when the State Government closed down the Wynnum Central primary school and shortly afterwards sold the building and the land to Brisbane City Council.
This building ultimately became the current Wynnum Community Centre, and the former oval and grounds of the school became the building currently occupied by Wynnum Library and Woolworths.
Two things happened at this point which stopped the full public utility of the site being realised – one, not enough green space was reserved for public use. What was retained was a grass strip over the top of the underground car park which is now called ‘Wynnum Central Park’ but which is about as far away from a real public park as you could imagine (have you ever seen anyone putting a picnic blanked down there and have some lunch, or throwing a ball around?).
Two, the old school building was converted to offices for a number of (very important and worthy) local social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations. Although there are officially a small number of rooms and spaces in the building that can be hired out for events, in practice these are underused and difficult to book as access is controlled remotely by the council – there is no on-site manager to manage or promote the use of these assets.
The net result is that we have a community centre that is not a community centre in the truest sense of the term, and no usable genuinely public space, either inside or outside!
Here we are, ten years on, and this year is probably the first since then where we can seriously discuss this topic again – Wynnum now has a councillor who is member of Team Schrinner at city council and is a longstanding local person who knows first hand the issues facing Wynnum to boot!
A decade ago, many locals took part in a series of online surveys run by the then WynnumCentral project* about what they would like to see in Wynnum. Top of the list were ‘public facilities’ such as parking and public toilets and a big vote for a cinema, which of course we now have.
Two other ideas which also had some traction were the pedestrianisation of part of one of the main streets in the central area to create a ‘town square’ of sorts, and a public pool. In fact if you counted the ‘votes’ on both of these ideas together, the majority of those surveyed wanted a pool and a pedestrianised area.
The big question today is – is this what residents of Wynnum still want to see?
*which has now morphed into business group Brisbane Business Bayside, which supports this site.
Further Reading
https://www.wynnumcentral.com.au/whacky-ideas-for-wynnum-no-2/
https://www.wynnumcentral.com.au/proposal-for-community-garden-for-wynnum-central/
https://www.wynnumcentral.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BCC-SCIP-Proposed-Plans.pdf
https://www.wynnumcentral.com.au/wynnum-manly-community-centre-and-wynnum-chamber-challenge-council-school-plans/
https://www.wynnumcentral.com.au/community-consultation/
This article first appeared in Bayside Weekly News
