Sunnybank (4109)
Situated on Brisbane’s Southside between Swamp and Bulimba creeks, Sunnybank (4109) was initially dominated by farms because its fertile soils and excellent rainfall favoured fruit and poultry production.
In the early 1900s this farming gave way to residential development, industry including motor vehicle manufacturing, tourist enterprises such as the Oasis gardens and zoo and, with the advent of the Commonwealth Games, large sporting complexes.
Increasing population pressure and scarcity of available land for new development, has meant that the emphasis in Sunnybank is now upon high density residential development integrated into mixed use commercial space.
Because Sunnybank was thought by the Chinese to be a lucky and fortunate place to live, there has been a significant influx of Asians choosing to settle in the suburb since the 1980s. This can be seen in Sunnybank’s multicultural quality with its predominantly Asian restaurants and businesses.
Although Sunnybank has a major bus interchange and three train stations with services to Brisbane city, its rapid growth has meant increasing traffic congestion problems particularly around peak times.
Sunnybank is very well serviced by numerous shopping centres consolidated around Mains Road. These include Sunnybank Plaza anchored by Coles, Kmart and cinemas, Sunny Park offering Aldi and Woolworths, Market Square which imitates an Asian community village as well as Pinelands, and Westfield Garden City to name a few.
55% of Sunnybank’s population (about 8,000 – 2011 Census) were born overseas, predominantly in China and Taiwan. Consequently, about 52% of households are multilingual where Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese is also spoken (30%).
