The battle for a local pool and 42 hectares of Brisbane land

3 months ago 8

The fight to save a local swimming pool is the new focus of the debate over an abandoned university campus nestled in bushland just 15 minutes from Brisbane’s CBD.

The now-defunct Griffith University campus sits on 42 hectares of bushland in Toohey Forest, near the summit of Mount Gravatt Mountain, on the eastern side of the Pacific Motorway.

It would be prime real estate, were it not perched on the mountain and surrounded by bush, making it a high bushfire danger zone. However, that has not stopped developers and public housing advocates eyeing the swathe of government land, as well as a primary school.

The now-defunct Griffith University campus at Mount Gravatt.

At least seven buildings, including deserted student dormitories, an auditorium and lecture halls, remain on the site, as well as Yarranlea Primary School, the aquatic centre and tennis courts.

However, hundreds of residents are focused on saving the pool.

The Mount Gravatt Aquatic and Fitness Centre is due to close when the university ends its lease at the end of the year, and the land will be transferred back to the state government.

The 55-year-old campus closed earlier this year as the university consolidated resources on its much larger Brisbane South campus at Nathan and a new Brisbane City campus, set to open in the historic Treasury Building in the CBD in 2027.

Nearly 1000 people have signed a petition calling for the state government to find a new operator for the swimming pool, saying the aquatic centre is an important community space for residents and school students.

“It has been a vital congregation point, a place where health, fitness, community spirit, and local camaraderie thrive,” the petition reads.

“Closing these doors would not only disrupt the local swim programs and children’s swimming education but would also mark a significant loss in promoting overall community wellbeing.”

Yarranlea Primary School, which also sits on the campus land, is keen to leverage the site’s closure to expand.

School board director Adrienne Innes said the school currently had 60 students, with several dozen more on its 2026 waitlist, but would accept less than half of those because it does not have enough classrooms.

“Things get rundown when people don’t actually use them ... it’s very frustrating when we see all of the empty spaces around us,” Innes said.

In a letter to Innes, Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said he was “committed to the school remaining at the Mt Gravatt campus”.

The office of Natural Resources Minister Dale Last said current negotiations surrounding the site were “confidential and ongoing”.

In a letter to local Labor MP Corrine McMillan, the minister’s office said: “It is more appropriate that Yarranlea discuss any expansion of their footprint with the final tenure holder, once that entity is determined.”

The former Labor state government scrapped plans to convert the unused student accommodation into emergency housing over concerns about the potential bushfire risk.

That plan was hastily announced after the former Palaszczuk government’s housing roundtable in 2022, then abandoned after it was determined it would cost too much to bring the buildings up to code, although $2.1 million had already been spent on redevelopment works that went nowhere.

An aerial view of the Mount Gravatt campus.

Matthew Burke, an urban researcher and Griffith University adjunct professor, said the campus’ good public transport links made it an ideal location for a selective high school or education academy that could cater to students from across Brisbane.

“If you think about the Queensland academies, you want them to be in a location where children can come over from a wide distance via public transport ... [and] it’s got wonderful public transport access,” Burke said.

“It’s an old asset that’s going to need some money pumped into it if the old buildings are to be retained.”

He added that a hotel could also be considered.

Toohey Forest was purchased by Irish immigrant James Toohey in 1872 and remained under the Toohey family’s control until it became public land in 1946. It was eventually acquired by the state government and set aside as the lungs of Brisbane.

“There’s expansive car parks at the site, and some of that could be potentially returned to bush as a goodwill gesture,” Burke said.

“There will be a commercial use, but there may be a good public use for the asset too.”

Innes suggested Griffith’s unused multi-level carparks could be redeveloped into high-density housing.

“I’m certainly not advocating to get rid of any parts of Toohey Forest. It would just be the land that’s already cleared,” Innes said.

Griffith University said it would continue to support site facilities until mid-2026, except the aquatics centre.

The university bought the Treasury Building – long home to Brisbane’s Treasury Casino – from casino operator Star Entertainment for $67.5 million last year after Star opened its Queen’s Wharf venue.