I am continuing processing old slides and photographs and came across this lot taken in 1971 when we built our first home. We had recently returned from a trip around the world, after leaving Papua New Guinea. It was time to settle down. Before we left for Europe had bought an acre (half ha) of land in what was then called Eight Mile Plains and is now called Springwood. We looked around for a house we liked and settled on a 'Beazley' boomerang shaped 3-Bedroom house.
The day arrived when we met the builder with the bulldozer to level the land and dig the foundations.
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| The builder arrives with the bullzozer |
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| I'm supervising the action |
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| The land had a gentle slope |
A few days later, we had the foundations in and shortly after the slab. Builders in those days were very efficient and prompt. The Blogger plans the garden. An acre is an awful lot of land
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| The foundations are in |
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| The timber frame goes up |
Once the frame was up, I pulled all the wires into the ceiling and frames for the lighting and power points. I was an electrician then.
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| The roof is on |
We visited the site most weekends to check it out and sometimes order changes to be made. The builder was very tolerant with us and didn't complain when we asked for things to be moved or improved. Mind you, he charged us for it. Fair enough.
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| Outside looks a real mess |
Finally, after five months, we took possession of the house and moved in.
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| Our very first house |
The funny thing was, our address was Lot 14, Springwood Road, Eight Mile Plains, which a few years later became Lot 14, Springwood Road, Slacks Creek and yet another few years later, 222, Springwood Road, Springwood. So we changed addresses three times without even moving.
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The kitchen is finished
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Springwood has changed drastically in 43 years, as the picture below shows. What once was a single lane road where passing vehicles had to drive onto the dirt road next to the bitumen, is now a 4-lane road.
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| This is the road now |
Our first daughter Carol was born there. It was a building boom, so we only stayed for a couple of years there before we sold the place for more than twice as much and bought another house, still in Springwood. But that's another story.
In retrospect, I guess you don't think much of it, but you must have taken great pride at the time. My father built us a house in the mid seventies. It seemed wonderful at the time, but it would not have held up well.
ReplyDeleteI've never had to face building a house on a bare-land site. I have spent years making gardens from bare croftland though. That was hard enough work. I certainly wouldn't start even that again now though.
ReplyDeleteThe poor house today is a unkempt rental. It saddens me to see it. It looked better 40 years ago even without a garden.
ReplyDeleteOh the joys of building. What I enjoyed most from you photos were the glass milk bottles. Mine used to be left out every afternoon for the milkie to come. A thing of the by-gone era, but I do still have a milkman who comes twice a week.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this series, thank you so much for sharing.
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