From Smoke Stacks to Splash Parks!
If you grew up on Brisbane's northside, chances are you remember the towering chimneys and the unmistakable smell of the Petrie Paper Mill.
The mill officially opened on 6 December 1957, when Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM) established what would become one of the region's largest employers. For more than five decades it produced paper products used across Australia before paper manufacturing came to an end in 2013, closing an important chapter in Moreton Bay's industrial history.
But here's something many people don't realise... the paper mill and Lake Kurwongbah share the same story!
When plans for the mill were approved in 1949, one major challenge remained – securing a reliable water supply. The answer was the North Pine Water Supply Scheme, which included damming Sideling Creek to create Lake Kurwongbah. Construction began in 1956, the reservoir was officially named Lake Kurwongbah in 1958, and the completed scheme was officially opened in 1961. It supplied water to the paper mill while also supporting the rapidly growing communities of Pine Rivers and Redcliffe. Without this project, the mill may never have been built.
Following the mill's closure, the site began an extraordinary transformation. The old factory was progressively demolished to make way for The Mill at Moreton Bay, one of Queensland's largest urban renewal projects. In February 2020, the UniSC Moreton Bay campus welcomed its first students, and in June 2024, the spectacular Mill Water Park and Play Space opened where machinery once stood.
The story doesn't end there...
The park is now home to “Matilda”, a giant kangaroo inspired by the famous mascot of the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.
This version is a smaller replica of the original Matilda, which delighted visitors at the Games and remains one of Queensland’s most iconic mascots.
She now watches over one of the region's most popular playgrounds – a fitting symbol of how a place once dedicated to making paper is now all about making memories.
From dairy farms... to a paper mill... to a university... to an award-winning park, Petrie has reinvented itself time and time again.
Do you remember the Petrie Paper Mill? Or have you visited the new Mill Water Park? We'd love to hear your memories!
Petrie Paper Mill Aerial View ca. Late 1950s: To help tell this story, we've used a computer-generated reconstruction based on public archive photographs (Public Domain and Creative Commons sources). It has been carefully created for educational and historical storytelling and is shared for non-commercial purposes.
