West End’s Boundary Street has a rich history. It has 15 buildings that are listed on the Brisbane City Council Heritage Register and the Kuripla Library was the first purpose-built municipal library in Queensland.
The West End Making History Group is currently in the early stages of planning a project to record the history of the Boundary Street precinct.
The group, which was established in 2010, has prepared four previous walkers’ guides to West End with the aim of helping people understand why its history is so important to the residents of West End.
The growth in developments in West End is bringing rapid change to the area and this has provided an impetus for the group to capture the past while it can.
Group member Steve Capelin spoke to The Westender about the why’s and how’s of the project.
Mr Capelin thinks it is important for community life that communities have centres to gather around, and Boundary Street he says is in many ways, West End’s community centre.
“Boundary Street is a very cosy street: very engaging and warm, and human”, Mr Capelin said, adding, “If we get a huge influx of new people coming here without understanding where they’re coming to, or what’s been here before them, or what the locals value, then you put the sense of community at risk.”
For their new project, the group is exploring the built environment, the businesses and the personalities of Boundary Street across various eras. It plans a series of information sheets to be displayed in windows and other sites across West End that will present a “slice of the life” of the street from 1842 to the present.
The West End Making History Group
Other group members are Fiona Stager, Helen Abrahams, Tim Quinn, Phil Vanderziel and Pam Burke.
The website for the West End Making History Group is: www.streetwalkersguidetowestend.com
Old Photographs
If you have any old images of Boundary Street that you think may be of interest to the group please send them to Steve Capelin at capelin1@live.com.au
The Westender hopes to follow the group’s progress, providing updates and profiles of buildings and people of interest.
