We feel betrayed: neighbours fear school will lock them out

A legally blind Toowong resident and his wife feel betrayed by an elite state school’s decision to fence off ovals they and other locals use for exercising.

Lana Currie (front) with Bob and Margaret Heidrich. They are concerned locals will locked out of green space on school property at Toowong. Picture: Richard Walker

For half a century Bob and Margaret Heidrich have walked across or played with their children on ovals at a nearby school site, but they fear locals will soon be locked out.

Mr Heidrich, who is legally blind after suffering a stroke, has to traverse the Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology site to access Oakman Park.

It was the only flat route to the park from his house that he was able to manage.

“But the fence is a much bigger issue than just us going for a walk,’’ Mrs Heidrich said.

“Over the years we have been here the area has changed a lot.

“There were half the number of houses and people were older many years ago, but now there are young families with kids — it’s a lovely place to be part of.

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“The school previously made it clear they wanted to be part of the community, but a fence just says to us: ‘keep out’.

“We’ve put up with a certain amount of noise, traffic and dust (from construction work on new school buildings) because we were all told it would go back to normal once it was finished.

“This fence is certainly going not back to normal. We feel a bit betrayed.’’

QASMT and the Department of Education have been contacted for comment.

Pedestrian access to the QASMT site at Dampier St, warning that it is patrolled by security guards. Picture: Richard Walker

But school principal Kath Kayrooz recently wrote to neighbours saying the fence, which was due for completion next month, was necessary because of incidents of alleged vandalism.

The construction site has also been targeted by Extinction Rebellion and other opponents of the building work, which will accommodate an influx of students when QASMT goes from Years 10-12 to a full Years 7-12 campus.

Mrs Heidrich and other residents said they would be happy for a fence to go ahead, if the school believed it would address vandalism, as long as the alignment was close to existing buildings.

Fence posts at the Miskin St entrance to the Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology in Toowong. Picture: Richard Walker

But work this week on fence posts indicated it would run along the boundary, close to the southern banks of Toowong Creek.

About 1000 people signed a state parliamentary petition, launched by local Greens MP Michael Berkman recently, which called for continuing community access.

Mr Berkman is due to meet Education Minister Grace Grace about the issue on Thursday.

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