There once was a creek

There once was a creek somewhere in your neighbourhood, flowing where no creek flows today. Perhaps it flowed through a nearby park, or beneath what is now a busy street. Maybe it flowed through your own backyard.

Whatever this creek’s story may be, it is a story worth knowing, for it is the story of how your neighbourhood once was, and how it became the landscape that you know today.

Here, you will find the stories of creeks and their catchments from across Brisbane and beyond.


Latest activity

  • New site map

    New site map

    When I created this site, my vision was of a neat history of the Western Creek catchment. Each part of the catchment would have a page devoted to it, and each page would fit snugly within the structure of the site. But as the site has progressed I have ended up writing about a wider…


  • oncewasacreek: a words-eye view

    oncewasacreek: a words-eye view

    Note – the pictures in this post contain two images, which flip back forth when you hover your mouse over them. On a mobile device these images will switch when you touch them, and then switch back when you scroll away … if you are lucky. For best results, please view this article on a…


  • The history of the Coronation Drive Office Park

    The history of the Coronation Drive Office Park

    This post is all about the part of Milton bounded by the railway, Cribb Street, Coronation Drive and Boomerang Street. If you live in Brisbane, it’s a place that you have probably passed many times without really noticing. From Coronation Drive it presents as a row of office buildings and some Jacarandas; from the train,…


  • The Duckbill Dimension

    The Duckbill Dimension

    I wrote last week about the backflow prevention device — let’s call it a floodgate — that the council is installing at the end of the Milton Drain to protect the Western Creek drainage system from backflow flooding (that is, flooding from the river rather than from local stormwater). The Western Creek floodgate is the…


  • A floodgate for Western Creek

    A floodgate for Western Creek

    So, it’s really happening. If this sign is to be believed, then Western Creek is finally going to have its floodgate. The photo was snapped at the entrance to the footbridge under Coronation Drive at the mouth of Western Creek (otherwise known as the Milton Drain) a few weeks ago by Steven Cowley, who has…


  • Email problems

    Email problems

    UPDATE (15th January) — The contact form is now working, so please feel free to use it. Please note, though, that I cannot retrieve any messages that were sent while it was not working. If you have tried to email me recently via the contact page, the chances are that I have not received your…