Growing Bray Park area set to enjoy new park for all

Published 08 October 2024

John Bray Park concept design

Communities in the Bray Park area are one step closer to welcoming a new $3.4 million district play and picnic park with construction set to start in late 2024.

City of Moreton Bay Acting Mayor Jodie Shipway said this park has been in the works for more than two decades and she’s excited to see it come to life.

“The new district play and picnic park at John Bray Park was proposed as part of the City of Moreton Bay’s Local Government Infrastructure Plan to support the expected population growth in the area,” she said.

“With significant growth for the City on the horizon, it’s crucial that we create spaces for our communities to enjoy recreational activities and the great lifestyle that Moreton Bay has to offer.

“From our community consultation we’ve shaped the new park to include an all ages playground, amenities, picnic facilities, multi-sports court, open space and additional car parking.

“This park upgrade has been specifically designed to showcase and leverage the area’s beautiful habitat.

“It will provide shade and embed a range of nature play elements to get kids ‘back to nature’ and curious about the natural environment and outdoors.”

Councillor Jim Moloney (Div 8) said council officers have done a lot of planning and will continue work to ensure there is minimal impact on the surrounding natural environment.

“We are deeply committed to preserving and enhancing our local environment,” he said.

“This area is in a known wildlife corridor and Council has proudly invested in the habitat enhancement along Four Mile Creek.

“The park design has been thoughtfully considered to minimise the impact on the natural habitat.

“We've identified the opportunity to reduce the number of trees that may be impacted by adjusting some of the new infrastructure.

“In areas where some small regrowth saplings exist, we will be retaining as many as we can within new garden beds and council officers will work with the contractor to avoid them wherever possible.

“We've also increased tree replanting since the original design, adding over 100 new trees and more than 2,500 predominantly native shrubs and groundcovers as part of the landscaping to increase biodiversity for wildlife.

“Many of these additional trees are in 25lt growbags to enhance koala food trees around the site and further upstream along the corridor where existing tree cover is sparser. 

“The increase of new planting for this project and Council’s protection of the significant riparian corridor from future development will further support enhanced koala habitat in the area.

“The new park facilities and landscaping will form an important buffer zone between the riparian corridor and the new residential area.”

“I’m proud that City of Moreton Bay is one of the only local government areas in the country that has healthy urban koala populations and we will continue to protect local wildlife through initiatives like our Green Infrastructure program and tree-planting program.”

To find out more about City of Moreton Bay’s Green Infrastructure program visit our website.

Construction on the new John Bray district park is set to commence in late 2024 and anticipated to be complete by mid-2025.