Slacks Creek

Location

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History

Slacks Creek originally encompassed an area on both sides of the Pacific Highway from Beenleigh Road to where the Logan Hyperdome now stands. With development in the district, it has gradually reduced to a small area on the southern side of the highway. The Slacks Creek Progress Association lobbied for many years for the suburb to retain the area containing the school, the historic St Marks Anglican Church and the cemetery. These are now located in Daisy Hill.

Slacks Creek is one of the oldest settled areas in Logan. The creek that gave its name to the district is part of the Logan River catchment and was named after the Slack family, who had a cattle run there. The Aboriginal name for the creek was Mungaree, which means ‘place of fishes’. Mungaree is the name the Slack family gave to their property. John Slack grazed cattle in the district from about 1845. He died in 1861 and his son William remained in the area and married Mary Anne Skyring. William Slack leased land along the current Pacific Highway in between Paradise Road and the Loganlea Road interchange, where he ran a slaughter yard. He ran a second slaughter yard opposite what is now the Upper Mount Gravatt school. Samuel Markwell was the first to purchase land in the district. He selected 205 acres of the Mungaree leased land in 1861.

When the first bridge over the Brisbane River was constructed in 1865, the land was opened up for closer settlement and the rough bush track through Mt Gravatt to the Logan River was known as Slack's track. The main road to the south followed the path of the current Pacific Highway to Loganlea Road, and then crossed Slacks Creek on Loganlea Road and continued to Waterford.

Mail services began in 1878, with the Markwells acting as receiving office keeper. Once the railway opened in 1885, mail was collected from the railway at Loganlea. By 1890, a receiving office had opened at Daisy Hill. Mail was delivered by horse and buggy twice a week.

The original Slacks Creek school was located on Loganlea Road. The Slacks Creek provisional school was subject to much local flooding and, by the end of 1893, the school and teacher's residence were moved to a flood-free location between the Pacific Motorway and Winnetts Road where the Logan East State Emergency Service buildings now stand. In 1964, the school was moved to Daisy Hill Road after the ever-increasing traffic on the Pacific Highway (the section now called Winnetts Road) made it a less-than-ideal site for a school. The Slacks Creek State School was officially renamed Daisy Hill State School for the start of the 2017 school year.

The first Church of England was St Marks, which was built in 1901 and still remains today in Winnetts Road. A small cemetery exists beside the church. Both are on the State Heritage Register.

The first store in Slacks Creek was opened by Sid Floate on the highway following World War II. The store was built of bricks removed from a demolition site in Brisbane and it housed the telephone exchange, post office and a general store. In March 1954, business became so brisk that Floate built a new post office next door. Both buildings remain on the service road to the south of the Watland Street overpass (which was built in 1978).

At the end of World War II, the Fiesta Gardens pool operated from a site to the south of Floate's store. The site was home to an army camp during the war. In 1954, the council minutes noted that the pool was emptied every fortnight. This site later became the Blue Gum Caravan Park.

Attempts to construct a community hall began as early as 1938, but the war hindered the process. In 1955, the Slacks Creek Progress Association formed as on offshoot of the Slacks Creek school Welfare Committee, and fundraising began. The hall was built with community labour during 1958–59, under the direction of local carpenter Dick Ison. The building was regularly upgraded, with the final brick cladding completed in 1993.

A significant shopping centre in the area, the Argonaut Centre, evolved from Noel Burke's Golden Fleece Service Station on Kingston Road. The site was rebuilt in early 1967 following a fire. In 1968, an industrial estate was developed adjacent to the shopping centre, and the Argonaut Shopping Centre was officially opened on 1 May 1969. The Woodridge East Post Office was located in the shopping centre in 1970.

The area around Springlands Drive was part of the Dennis family's holdings. Springlands Barn, which was demolished in 1983, was originally built to house the Dennis' jersey cows. There was a sawmill at the rear of the barn, which provided timber for many local buildings. In later years, the barn was converted into a dance hall by the Porter family and was used for many social functions in the district.

During the 1960s, industry in the Slacks Creek area was developing, with a macadamia nut processing plant, a timber veneer manufacturer, Slacks Creek Pottery, Paxton's poultry abattoir and Paxton’s subsequent machinery service centre. The Moss Street industrial subdivision in the 1960s was the forerunner to today's extensive industrialisation of the area.