Forest Lake was considered instrumental in the creation of affordable housing within Australia. The development was the first modern-day community to contain small lot product, a first during its time. The master-planned community contained retail, commercial, educational, residential, retirement, and recreational uses. The entire community is linked by an extensive network of pedestrian and cycle paths, which are integrated into the large open-spaced network.[citation needed]
The Forest Lake Shopping Centre (formerly Forest Lake Village Shopping Centre) is located in Forest Lake.[citation needed]
Villages
The Forest Lake development consists of a series of neighbourhoods known as villages. Each village was marketed separately and features an entry statement. These villages are; Woodvale Village, Parkland Village, Homestead Village, Lavender Court, Banksia Village, Pine Village, Lakeside Village, Settlers Village, The Chase, The Woods, Brooklands, Hillbrook Village, The Point, Greentree Pocket, Jetty Walk, Centennial Park, College Park, Creekwood, Creekwood Pocket, Chain of Ponds, Jubilee Crossing, The Cascades, Sanctuary Pocket, Sanctuary Point and The Peninsula. There is also a retirement village called The Terraces and an apartment precinct adjoining the Forest Lake Shopping Centre called Prima on Grand.[citation needed]
The Lake
Panorama of Forest Lake
The centrepiece of Forest Lake is an $8.9 million, 10.9 hectare man-made recreational lake, with a perimeter of 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi). $1.8 million was spent on the dam wall, outlet structure and boulevard embankment. It has an average depth of 2.6 metres with a 300 to 600 mm around the safety ledge, deepening to 4 metres in the centre. The volume of the lake is 310,000 cubic metres or 269 Olympic sized swimming pools. Surrounding the lake is 3.5 kilometres of pedestrian and cycleways and 8 hectares of adjacent parkland. It was completed and opened in 1994.[3]
A homestead was built by Henry Farley in the late 1870s on a site that is now Homestead Park (27°36′26″S152°57′28″E / 27.6073°S 152.9577°E / -27.6073; 152.9577 (Homestead Park)). It was a substantial building of two-stories and timber construction. In 1881, the homestead and surrounding property were purchased by Michael (Stumpy) Durack. The surrounding area became part of "Archerfield Station". In the 1930s it was destroyed by fire, although it has been said that termites caused a great deal of damage to the structure beforehand.[citation needed]
During World War II, there was a command post of the Darra Ordnance Ammunition Depot in the area now Forest Lake. This depot was the largest ordnance depot in the South West Pacific Area. On 31 August 2005 the Richlands-Inala History Group erected an honour stone in Homestead Park, the site of the command post, commemorating the ammunition depot and the American army camps in Inala and Wacol nearby.[5]
In 1990, construction of the master planned community commenced by Delfin Lend Lease. In 1991, Forest Lake was officially launched by the then Premier of Queensland, Wayne Goss.[3] The development lasted until 2006, when the last block of land was sold.[citation needed]
Forest Lake State School opened on 1 January 1994.[6]
Forest Lake College (College Avenue Campus) opened in 1994.[6]
Grand Avenue State School opened on 1 January 1999.[6]
Forest Lake State High School opened on 1 January 2001.[6]
As the first Master Planned Community within the City of Brisbane, Forest Lake won numerous awards for its design and Delfin, the developer of Forest Lake, was absorbed into Lend Lease in 2001. Now operating as Delfin Lend Lease, they are developing the adjacent Springfield Lakes Master Planned Community.[citation needed]
Forest Lake College (Alpine Place Campus) opened on 2002.[6]
In 2011, the lake experienced a blue-green algae (cyanobacterial) bloom, causing some concern to local residents. A local councillor advised people to not enter the water due to the high toxicity levels from the algle bloom.[7]
In the 2011 census, Forest Lake recorded a population of 22,426 people, 51.9% female and 48.1% male.[8] The median age of the Forest Lake population was 33 years of age, 4 years below the Australian median. 61% of people living in Forest Lake were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 7.9%, England 4.7%, Vietnam 3.1%, India 1.8%, South Africa 1.6%. 73.6% of people spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were 5% Vietnamese, 1.6% Samoan, 1.4% Sinhalese, 1.3% Mandarin, 1.2% Hindi.[8]
Demographics
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2023)
According to the 2016 census, Forest Lake includes the largest Sri Lankan Australian community of any suburb in Queensland, numbering 344 individuals and making up 1.5% of the suburb's population.[9]
In the 2016 census, Forest Lake had a population of 22,904 people.[1]
Forest Lake is serviced by a weekly visit of the Brisbane City Council's mobile library service at the Forest Lake Shopping Centre.[18]
Forest Lake Samoan Church conduct their services on the cornern Corsair Avenue and Inala Avenue in Inala; it is part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.[19]
Sport
Sports include: Australian rules football, rugby union, netball, baseball, basketball, tennis, swimming, water polo, triathlon, cricket and athletics.[citation needed]
^ abcMynott, Wicki (2009). 150 years: Richlands, Inala & neighbouring suburbs in Brisbane's South West. Richlands, Inala & Suburbs History Group. pp. 110–122.
^"AIATSIS code E66: Yugarabul". Federal government. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
