Did you know that Brisbane Bird Vet does feather ‘transplants’ for impaired birds relearning to fly? Dr Adrian Gallagher likens the procedure to people getting hair extensions or fake nails.He even has a feather bank at his Chermside clinic to support his transplant work.
According to Dr Gallagher, a feather transplant is a much-needed intervention for native birds that have been injured or have incurred trauma on their wings. The procedure, known as “imping,” allows the birds to fly quicker, especially if they have to be returned to the wild.
Brisbane Bird Vet, located at the corner of Hamilton Rd and Pfingst Rd, is also a feather bank for the doctor’s transplant needs. He uses donor feathers to glue the clipped wings with medical-grade materials. However, Dr Gallagher said that sourcing donor feathers have its many challenges as well because there are not enough sources for matching feathers.
Whilst he has worked on native birds, the veterinarian has also done transplants on a pet or domesticated bird as some owners still ascribe to the practice of clipping wings to prevent a bird’s escape. However, wing clipping or trimming often raises the chances of the birds falling and hurting themselves.
Dr Gallagher has also treated pet birds that have experienced mutilation by their owners who have gone too far. Unfortunately, the Animal Care and Protection Act in Queensland lacks the stipulations that would address this distressing problem.
The veterinarian advises pet bird owners who still believe in wing clipping or trimming to do a proper consultation with the experts before they hurt their pets. It needs to be done in a safe and proper way.
A development application seeking to establish a nine-storey health, retail and office building in Chermside is currently being assessed. The proposed healthcare-focused development is projected to create a range of employment and activation opportunities.
L&A Maccheron Property lodged the application last November 2022 proposing a healthcare-focused development that will house a medical centre/specialist consulting suites, commercial office and ground floor active retail at 690-706 Gympie Road, 11-15 Wallace Street and 10 Norman Drive, Chermside.
“The development is of a scale and form that provides a positive contribution to the streetscape and is consistent with the planning intent for development within the Chermside locality. The proposed development presents high quality building design features modulation of the building form, material variation, landscaping at ground, podium and tower levels and balconies oriented to Gympie Road.” – Mewing Planning Consultants
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au
The subject site sits just a few hundred metres away from Westfield Chermside and is expected to complement the nearby medical services providers, particularly Prince Charles Hospital, St Vincent’s Private Hospital and Brisbane North Eye Centre.
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au
The proposed development will consist of a podium and tower form with an overall height of 9 storeys within the Gympie Road sub-precinct and 5 storeys within the Mixed-Use sub-precinct. Likewise, a podium height of 4 storeys is proposed within the Gympie Road sub-precinct and 3 storeys within the Mixed Use sub-precinct.
It includes ground-level activation with health care and retail spaces along with outdoor dining and landscaping oriented to Gympie Road. There is also a mix of healthcare facilities at levels 4 and 5 and offices at levels 7 and 8. For the purpose of emergency fire egress from the proposed development, the plans also include an access easement over 10 Norman Drive.
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au
A total of 182 car parking spaces plus 20 motorbike spaces will be provided. The car park design includes ambulance and van bays with provision for on-site servicing (with all vehicle manoeuvres to be undertaken on-site).
All access including car parking and servicing is obtained from Wallace Street.
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au
Not-for-profit developer Brisbane Housing Company has secured Council approval for its two new social and affordable housing projects, one on Ethel Street, Chermside and another in Stones Corner.
Brisbane City Council has approved BHC’s development plans which will provide a combined 116 apartments, supporting the company’s strategy to increase the supply of affordable rental homes for Queenslanders.
BHC caters to a variety of people in need with affordable and stable accommodation including people eligible for social housing, with rents usually set at 25-30 per cent of household weekly income. The affordable housing component of BHC’s developments provides rental opportunities for lower-income earners at 75 per cent of the average market rent.
One of the projects will be located on Brisbane’s northside and the other one will be in the inner south with construction slated to commence in early 2023.
A five-storey build-to-rent development will rise at 5 and 9 Ethel Street, Chermside – close to local transport and major health and retail precincts. The Ultralinea-designed housing tower will comprise a mix of 34 (28 x one-bedroom and 6 x two-bedroom) homes.
The project, likewise, will deliver an equal mix of 17 social housing and 17 affordable homes targeting those at risk of homelessness, particularly low-income workers and people on the social housing register. It will feature multiple spaces where residents could meet and connect including an alfresco rooftop and ground floor common space.
A total of 31 car parking spaces will be provided including 22 resident car parks and 9 visitor car parks as well as 43 bicycle spaces.
Render of an approved residential tower at 23-27 Cleveland Street, Stones Corner | Photo credit: Brisbane Housing Company / bhcl.com.au
The Brisbane inner-south 10-storey development, meanwhile, will deliver a mix of 82 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments on a site located on Cleveland Street in Stones Corner. Designed by award-winning Ellivo Architects, the project will comprise 50 social housing and 32 affordable homes.
The Chermside and Stones Corner projects will target a 7+star NatHERS rating, offering rainwater collection and storage for landscape irrigation, a solar array to power the communal spaces and lifts, and naturally cross-ventilated apartments and communal spaces.
BHC’s vision is to create vibrant developments that provide essential workers, and Queenslanders in housing need, with safe, quality homes located close to local transport and services,” BHC Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Oelkers said.
“These community-centric housing options will be brought to life by thoughtful architecture, providing the peace of mind for residents that comes with the stability of long-term rental tenure.
“Our new Chermside development is within walking distance of the Prince Charles and St Vincent’s hospitals and the retail hub of Chermside Shopping Centre and will provide much needed accommodation to essential workers in these precincts.
“Similarly, our Stones Corner development is centrally located close to public transport, retail, parklands, and employment and education opportunities in the inner-city.”
BHC marked its 20th anniversary last November 2022 with a provision of more than 2,000 affordable and high-quality homes for Queenslanders in need. BHC targets a further 2,000 homes over the next five years.
Authorities are reminding business owners to assess their security following a stealing incident in Chermside, which involved two minors who allegedly stole $10,000 worth of jewellery from a store.
According to Queensland Police Service, the stealing incident in Chermside happened on 24 November 2022, when two males and a female entered the store and removed a gold bracelet from a display case behind the counter whilst the staff were distracted serving other customers.
They then left the store, only to return a few minutes later and allegedly steal five gold chains.
One of the jewellery stolen from the Chermside store (Photo credit: Queensland Police Service)
Fortunately, police from Chermside Police Beat were quick to respond. They obtained CCTV images which were distributed to patrolling police, who recognised the offenders.
Officers from Hendra Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) attended an address in Chermside on 25 November and located a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy reported to have been involved in the stealing offence.
After an emergent search at the address, officers from the CIB found one of the stolen jewellery items. The five items, however, remain outstanding.
Photo credit: Diego Fabian Parra Pabon /Pixabay
The 15-year-old girl was charged with Enter Premises and Commit Indictable offence, Unlawful Possession of Suspected Stolen Property, and two counts of Unlawful use of Motor vehicles.
The 17-year-old boy was charged with Enter Premises and Commit Indictable offence and Attempted Enter Dwelling and Commit Indictable offence. Both minors are bailed to appear in Brisbane Children’s Court.
An 18-year-old man, known to police, remains outstanding at this time.
Key Principles for Good Business Security
Photo credit: Kampus Production/Pexels
Following the stealing incident in Chermside, S/Con Kim Richter shared these key principles to achieve good business security:
Make it easy for an offender to be seen.
Make it difficult for an offender to gain entry.
Make it difficult for an offender to exit with your property.
Make it difficult for an offender to gain benefit from your property.
For further information about evaluating your business’ security, see the QPS Business Security Assessment Guide, which is an easy to use tool to review your current business security measures and identify potential security risks.
Congratulations to Craigslea State School in Chermside West for winning the School of the Year award after successfully implementing Brisbane’s Active School Travel program!
Craigslea State School is only in its first year of the program and has managed to achieve the “greatest increase in students actively travelling” thus coveting the esteemed recognition.
At the start of Term 2, the school ran a “Walking, Wheeling Wednesday” initiative that encouraged more physical activities for both students and staff members.
The Active School Travel (AST) program, which is in its 18th year, also reduced traffic congestion as the school community had to leave their cars at home and instead allowed the children to walk, bike or take the scooter to school.
“Well done to all the students, parents, teachers and staff who participate by getting active and importantly reducing congestion and increasing safety around our school,” the school’s AST team said in announcing Craigslea State School’s achievement.
Photo Credit: Craigslea State School/Facebook
“Active School Travel is one of the easiest ways to incorporate physical activity into everyday life for all children.”
Also recognised for this year’s AST awards are:
Wishart State School School of Excellence 2022 Highest percentage of active travel in large schools
St Anthony’s School, Kedron Greatest increase of active travel in large schools
Seven Hills State School Greatest increase of active travel in small schools
Junction Park State School Highest percentage of active travel in small schools
Chermside topped the list of North Brisbane suburbs with the most number of crimes committed in the last six months, with 1,253 alleged offences recorded, based on the latest data from the Queensland Police Service.
The Online Crime Map, showing data from 25 May to 24 November 2022, revealed the leading type of offences in Chermside include unlawful entry, drug offences, and good order offences (generally minor, but some common examples include public nuisance, public urination, consuming liquor in public places).
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In North Brisbane, there were a total of 27,126 offences in the said period. Nundah followed the list with 577 offences in total, where unlawful entry and drug offences were identified as the types of the most committed offences.
Here are other suburbs in North Brisbane and the number of offences committed between 25 May and 24 Nov 2022:
Suburb
No. of Offences
Aspley
546
Stafford
407
Wavell Heights
297
Everton Park
293
Geebung
208
Mcdowall
73
Chermside West
65
Although authorities are committed to keeping the community safe, Member for Stafford Jimmy Sullivan reminded residents and businesses to play their role in looking after the community, such as locking their homes and their vehicles.
In the North Brisbane Police District, including Chermside, there are already 1,000 police officers ensuring that the suburbs remain a safe place to work and live.
A QPS spokesperson assured that these reported crimes in North Brisbane are being reviewed and that they allocate extra resources if any trends were identified. It pays to be vigilant at all times, particularly in common crimes like house-breaking, also known as break and enter or burglary, which can happen at any time of the day or night.
Besides securing belongings at all times, members of the public are encouraged to inform authorities if they notice any suspicious activity. To report non-urgent crime and suspicious activity, visit the Crime Stoppers’ website or call 1800 333 000.
Did you know that two stretches of Gympie Road, one in Chermside and another in Kedron, both appear on the list of the top hotspots for car crashes in the country, based on an analysis of motor insurance claims in Australia?
The AAMI analysis studies more than 350,000 motor insurance claims to determine which capital city roads are the most dangerous. The latest insurance claims data show the locations where most common car accidents are dominated by metropolitan areas. A number of these hotspots include arterial roads that link Central Business Districts to outlying suburbs.
In Brisbane, Gympie Road in Chermside has again ranked as the top hotspot for car crashes after settling to second place last year. The peak-hour traffic at the stretch is one of the most notorious in the state, given that it’s part of the main route serving the northern suburbs.
Gympie Road’s Chermside stretch takes out the crash crown again,
securing the #1 spot after dropping to second-place last year. Peak hour
traffic along Gympie Road is infamous, given it’s part of the main
route serving the northern suburbs.
A stretch of Gympie Rd in Kedron is also part of the top 5 hotspots in Brisbane and the differentiator between the Chermside and Kedron stretches looks like the shopping centre. Congestion is significant in that area of Chermside.
AAMI warns motorists who are planning an outing with their family to “keep your wits about you” as traffic along this stretch of Chermside as shoppers nearby could congest the road.
Others in the top five include:
Logan Road, Mount Gravatt – regaining the same #2 spot it held in 2020
Morayfield Road, Morayfield – ranks #3 for three years in a row
Ipswich Road, Annerley – in fourth place despite dropping the speed limit to 50 km/h
Gympie Road, Kedron – new on the list, occupying the fifth spot.
In Queensland, nose-to-tail prangs were identified as the most common type of collision. AAMI advises motorists to “stay alert and maintain a good distance between you and the car in front of you.”
Meanwhile, data current to September 2022 from Australian Road Deathsshows a slight increase in the number of road deaths across the country with 1,211 from 1,128 last year. Drivers recorded the most incidents among road users with 586 or 48.4 per cent of the total followed by motorcyclists with 20.3 per cent.
A Chermside grandpa plans to surprise his family and give them their share of his $875,000 windfall to express his gratitude for this unexpected stroke of good fortune.
The grandfather admitted that he could not believe his luck because he has been playing the same numbers “for more than 20 years” and had not won anything until this year.
The Chermside local took home one of the six division one winning entries during the Saturday draw last 8th October 2022, which amounted to $875,660.18. After getting confirmation that he was indeed a winner, he could only think of one thing: to surprise his family.
“I’ll definitely share it with my family,” the Chermside grandpa said. “I can’t wait to surprise them and see the shocked looks on their faces.”
“I feel incredibly grateful at the moment.
“It also gives me security moving forward.
“That’s all I can really ask for, to live my life the way I want to from now on.
“Thanks so much. This is amazing.”
The Brisbane local bought his winning entry at Nextra Chermside Newsagency at Westfield on Gympie Road and the store’s general manager, Shannon Hickey, was equally thrilled to have another winner from their outlet.
“We’ll be celebrating in-store all week and letting our customers know of this incredible news. We wish our lucky customer all the very best for their future.”
Council is seeking public comment on the proposed new bus network which will see future stages of Brisbane Metro extend the services to Chermside, Carindale, Springwood and the Brisbane Airport, along with other changes to the network.
Brisbane’s bus network is evolving and you are invited to have your say on this proposal.
Council has released Brisbane’s New Bus Network which will introduce two new fully electric, high-capacity Brisbane Metro lines into the network. The two new lines will connect 18 stations along dedicated busways from Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street, and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to The University of Queensland.
Future stages of this project will see Chermside, Brisbane Airport, Carindale and Springwood added to the serviced areas. Also as part of the changes, there will be three new routes and two routes removed (Routes 145 and P151), and 27 routes redesigned to form just 13 routes.
The three new routes are the following:
Route 26 – Griffith University station to RBWH station
Route P109 – Acacia Ridge to City via
Route 182 – Upper Mt Gravatt station (Garden City) to Holland Park West via Wishart and Mansfield
These routes will be combined:
Route 108 will be combined with Route 105
Route 114 will be combined with Route 112
Route 117 will be combined with Route 115
Route 124 will be combined with Route 125
Route 136 will be combined with Route 132
Route 174 will be combined with Route 175
Routes 181 and 184 will be combined with Route 185
Route P129 will be combined with Route 131
Route P157 will be combined with Route 156
Route P173 will be combined with Route 172
Route P207 will be combined with Route P217
Route 376 will be combined with Route 375
The new bus network will improve travel time during peak times on more than half of bus journeys, introduce 160,000 additional trips each year, increase South East Busway capacity by 30.4 million passengers per year in 2031 and free up Cultural Centre Station.
Civic Cabinet Chair for Transport Ryan Murphy said that some 385 buses are jamming up the Cultural Centre station during peak times due to the current over-reliance on direct bus journeys to the CBD. However, this is seen to improve once these routes are combined to create a simplified network and remove routes with “extremely low patronage.”
“The Schrinner Council’s public transport subsidy for Brisbane’s bus services is bigger than all the other Australian capital cities combined,” Cr Murphy said.
“Over the next few years, our investment in this subsidy will increase 84 per cent to $183 million.”
Have your say on the proposed Brisbane’s New Bus Network until 14 December 2022. Click here to answer the survey questions.
Council will finalise the network following public consultation and will seek Translink’s approval on the changes. The new network plan ahead of bus network changes and metro services will be released starting in late 2024.
Mikaela Norris, a 21-year-old Chermside woman with a rare condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, is appealing for the gift of dignity, choice and independence for people with disabilities this Christmas season.
As a disability advocate and the 2022 Youngcare Christmas Appeal Ambassador, Mikaela is looking forward to spending her first Christmas in a Specialist Disability Accommodation unit in Chermside after years of living with her parents. She is also hoping that more young people with disability will have access to appropriate housing so they could also enjoy a special Christmas with their friends and loved ones.
Over 3,100 young people with disabilities are living in aged care across Australia and nearly half of them are ready to be moved to a Specialist Disability Accommodation.
“I previously lived with my parents, who I have always had a great relationship with, but they were acting as my carers as well which wasn’t fair, so now they can just be my parents,” Mikaela said when asked why she advocated living independently despite her condition.
“As a young woman and a strong advocate for disability rights, I think it’s critical everybody has the opportunity to have a say in what they do, because, at the end of the day, it’s your life, it’s your choice.”
Photo Credit: Supplied
Youngcare has helped Mikaela and thousands of other Australians live their lives with the same opportunities that other young people enjoy through the delivery of At Home Care Grants, Home Support Grants and high-quality, purpose-built accessible housing tailored to a younger lifestyle.
Youngcare Head of Development and Housing Tim Lambert said the Christmas Appeal goes a long way to providing much-needed accessible housing to young people living with high physical support needs.
“The Christmas Appeal contributes to Youngcare’s housing, directly supporting young people’s choice to live young lives in high-quality Specialist Disability Accommodation,” Tim said.
“We are extremely proud to offer premium residential options, like the apartment Mikaela is living in, and have many more homes in the planning and construction stages across Australia.
“Our team are experts in development best practice, working every day to ensure our residents are living with freedom, choice and control.”
Youngcare also offers its At Home Care Grants program, which funds up to $10,000 for young people with high physical support needs to help buy essential items and services that can’t be funded elsewhere. To date, Youngcare has provided more than 370 At Home Care Grants throughout Queensland alone since the program’s inception in 2009.
For Mikaela, the program funded essential respite that allowed her to attend schoolies — her first outing away from her family — and a modified door in her family home to prevent Mikaela from injuring herself when entering and exiting.
Photo Credit: Supplied
Youngcare also operates ‘Youngcare Connect’, a free support line for young people with high physical support needs, their families and carers, offering information and advice on navigating the NDIS, as well as available housing, funding and care options.
All funds raised during Youngcare’s Christmas Appeal will help the organisation continue to develop aspirational Specialist Disability Accommodation, advocate for much-needed policy change, deliver its vital grants programs, and provide education, advice and pathways through its Youngcare Connect support line.
“I am thrilled to be Youngcare’s Christmas Appeal Ambassador for 2022 and encourage people across Brisbane to get involved. Every donation, no matter how big or small, makes a huge difference to beneficiaries like me.”
