Sunnybank
Postcode: 4109
Sunnybank is both an area or district and a suburb in Brisbane,Queensland, Australia. The suburb of Sunnybank is only a small part of the area generally known as Sunnybank, which also includes Banoon, Nathan, Robertson, MacGregor, Runcorn, and Sunnybank Hills.
Rolling hills and the headwaters for both Stable Swamp Creek and Bulimba Creek have drawn both people and wildlife to the Sunnybank area. The Jagara Indigenous people were the first to visit the area. The Sunnybank district was a farming area from the mid 1800s. With rich, red soil, it was highly productive. By the first part of the 20th century, farmland increasingly gave way to suburbia.
Development in the area was further encouraged with accommodation needed for troops from allied nations in World War 2 and in 1964. General Motors Holden established a car manufacturing plant on Bradman Street at Acacia Ridge, creating a major source of employment for the entire city of Brisbane. By the late 1980s, there was little evidence of Sunnybank ever being a home to large fruit plantations. With the Commonwealth games being held in 1982 at the Queen Elizabeth II sporting complex, now known as the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, and Expo 88 years later, Brisbane and its suburbs like Sunnybank were shown to the world. In the mid 1990’s the area became the ‘melting pot’ of Brisbane, with an increased number of people from Asia settling in Sunnybank and its neighbouring suburbs. When this happened the look of the entire area changed, especially around Sunnybank’s outlying business district at the intersection of Mains road and McCullough street.
A shopping centre, Sunnybank Plaza, is located at the intersection of Mains road and McCullough street. Other retail areas include Sunny Park Shopping Centre and Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown. It is also the home of the Sunnybank Dragons Rugby Club and the Souths Sunnybank Magpies Rugby League Club.
Sunnybank plaza has a large bus station, which serves as one of the major stops on most bus routes in the area. Queensland Rail operate a train service through the Sunnybank area. The Beenleigh railway line runs through the area, and in the Sunnybank area the train stations include (in order, going out-bound) Banoon, Sunnybank, Altandi and Runcorn. The bus stop outside Altandi train station is also a popular bus stop along Mains Road.