page_title: Victoria Park, Brisbane
section_title: World War II and afterwards
hierarchical_section_title: Victoria Park, Brisbane / History and description / World War II and afterwards
caption_attribution_description: English: Housing Commission Estate, Victoria Park.
context_page_description: Victoria Park is a heritage-listed park at 454 Gregory Terrace, Spring Hill & Herston, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 December 2007.
context_section_description: During the Second World War, a number of fibrolite military buildings were constructed at various points in Victoria Park by the forces of the United States of America. Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific in late 1941, Brisbane was transformed into a locale of intense military activity with thousands of American troops stationed there before being shipped off to fight the Japanese forces in the Pacific. While most of the accommodation was canvas tents, a number of huts of fibrolite on timber stumps were constructed south of Herston Road and Gregory Terrace. After the war until 1947 many of these huts were used to house Australian war brides (Australian women who had married American servicemen). After these women married an American they became stateless, losing their Australian citizenship but unable to acquire U. S. citizenship or legal rights as several years of residence in the U.S.A was required. This left many women in a very difficult position.
  The post-war reconstruction process heralded an era of rapid population growth in Queensland, leading to an acute shortage in housing. Temporary housing became a necessity. The Queensland State Housing Commission made use of the military facilities in Victoria Park; it became the second largest temporary housing settlement in Brisbane. Each hut would house several families. By 1950 Victoria Park was the impermanent home for 460 families (usually for not more than three years). It is believed that up to 100,000 Queenslanders lived in temporary housing between 1946 and 1960; this demonstrates the importance of this period in Victoria Park's history, as well as to Queensland's social history. The temporary housing camps in Victoria Park were closed in 1960. The University of Queensland purchased several of the fibrolite military buildings immediately after the war. These were then used by the School of Medicine to house the anatomy and physiotherapy departments prior to their permanent move to St. Lucia in 1961 and 1972. The Queensland Institute of Medical Research also purchased a military building. These buildings were all vacated by 1977, and subsequently demolished.
  In the 1950s an extensive flowering tree planting program was initiated for the slopes and gullies of the golf course; poincianas, oleanders, jacarandas and flame trees were planted to line the fair ways. Harry Oakman, the Superintendent of Parks and Gardens was the prominent landscape architect on this project.
  Harry Oakman was one of the pioneers of landscape architecture in Australia. In 1945 he began a seventeen-year appointment with the Brisbane City Council as Superintendent of Parks and Gardens and became the Director of Separate Parks Branch. He was in charge of transforming many of Brisbane's parks that had been damaged by the military use during the Second World War, including Victoria Park. Oakman was recognised as a Fellow of the British and Australian Institutes of Landscale Architects and the Royal Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation.
caption: Housing Commission Estate, Victoria Park, October 1953
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