Believe it or not, Taringa was once right on the edge of Brisbane and 313 Stanley Terrace was on a quiet, dirt road.
It’s not often you get to sit back and have a chat to someone whose family history is ingrained in an area.
Shane Mulligan, 67, grew up in Taringa with his parents, three brothers and sister. It was a time when kids could explore freely and everyone knew their neighbours.
He spoke to us about his family’s story and how the area has changed over the years.
Photo: Supplied by Shane Mulligan
Tell us a bit about your family history
My parents both grew up in Melbourne and they were dating from a young age.
Dad left to join the army after the war broke out and he was sent to Papua New Guinea.
Mum had to stay behind in Melbourne and she was working as a milliner.
Mum tried a number of times to get to Brisbane to get closer to Dad in case he came back to Australia there but at that stage the Brisbane Line was well and truly in effect and travel north by citizens just wasn’t allowed.
Photo: Provided by Shane Mulligan
What happened when they were reunited?
Dad returned home and became an officer and while he was home on leave they got married in Melbourne in July 1944.
Dad was then re-posted back to New Guinea.
He was up in the Pacific Islands until the end of the war.
On Christmas morning, 1945, they were told that they were going to be embarked home.
He often used to tell us it was the best Christmas present he ever had.
Photo: Provided by Shane Mulligan
How did your family end up in Taringa?
After Dad came home, they settled in a little flat at Wooloowin a couple of doors up from the fire station.
But while they were there, they decided they couldn’t live in a built-up area because of the noise of the fire engines and all of the traffic.
So they looked around and they found what was an ideal, quiet location at Stanley Terrace.
They bought a big piece of land there right at the end of the street and subdivided it into three lots.
One lot is where ‘Kildare’ was built. They named the house after County Kildare in Ireland because of our Irish heritage.
The other two were sold off over the years to pay for our [Shane and his siblings’] education.
The entirety of the land cost 150 pounds.
It was hard to get supplies to build the house after the war, so they lived in a surplus army hut while they built.
It had tar paper walls – it must have been an absolute oven in summer and in winter the cold must have been terrible.
Photo: Provided by Shane Mulligan
What was the street like back then?
Stanley Terrace was basically just a dirt track going through the bush.
That part of the world was absolute outskirts of Brisbane at the time and now it’s an inner-city location.
Stanley Terrace is a relatively busy street these days, but when we were young it was very quiet with only the occasional vehicle trundling along.
We used to have a great old time buzzing up and down the street on our pushbikes and homemade go-carts.
What was it like growing up in Taringa?
It was a very happy home and I’m very lucky to have had a happy childhood.
I remember as a child sitting on the patio, and being high on the ridge in Taringa we used to look out over the CBD and you could see the Story Bridge and the City Hall Clock Tower, which was the tallest building at the time.
The whole family often used to walk up to Mt Coot-tha through what is now that Mt Coot-tha Park and there was a path that we used to walk up which is now where the Western Freeway is.
We would look down and we could see our house.
Occasionally I still go up there and have a look and you can still see our old house but now there’s the freeway there too.
Photo: Provided by Shane Mulligan
Can you tell me about a favourite childhood memory?
I remember Christmas Day was always a particularly good time for us.
We’d have this massive Christmas tree three or four metres in diameter and the whole house would smell strongly like pine.
Dad used to tell us his story about him and his men embarking on Christmas Day and we knew the story as well as he could tell it and if he missed any facts or figures we’d correct him.
We’d line up at the lounge room doors which were firmly shut so we couldn’t see the presents.
We all used to troop in in age order and sit down around the Christmas tree and receive our presents.
That was a very fond memory.