Please join me at the opening event on Sunday 2 August 2015 at 11am along with Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, Neighbourhood Planning and Development Assessment Committee Chairman, Councillor Amanda Cooper; Morningside Ward Councillor, Shayne Sutton and Brisbane City Council representatives to celebrate the new-look streetscape for Cannon Hill.

The Cannon Hill SCIP Opening Event will include staged performances, free jumping castle, free native plants giveaway, free fairy floss and face-painting, and a SCIP ‘Before & After’display.

Attendees will be encouraged to get their lunch from the centre’s shops and restaurants, and enjoy the event while being entertained by the event performances.

Council’s Urban Design Unit staff and project artists James and Eleanor Avery will take a tour of the Cannon Hill SCIP to showcase the new streetscape upgrade and artwork.

There will also be a range of stalls by local community groups.

In 2015, the Cannon Hill suburban centre received a $2.5 million upgrade as part of the Cannon Hill SCIP. 

Streetscape improvements include: 

•  upgraded footpaths

•  upgraded bus stops

•  street trees and garden beds

•  new seats, bins and bike racks

•  new drinking fountains

•  upgraded intersection

•  new history signs

•  new public artwork

Since May 2014, Council worked with the Cannon Hill Community Representative Group (CRG) on the planning and design of the Cannon Hill SCIP. The CRG reviewed the streetscape and artwork designs and made recommendations which were incorporated into the development.

There are two artworks to celebrate the natural and cultural history of Cannon Hill, which was named after the Weedon family’s 1867 residence, Cannon Hill House. Artwork Tree by James and Eleanor Avery is inspired by one of several possible explanations for the name, which is that surveyors saw fallen trees and thought they looked like cannons. A second artwork features seating and inlaid pavement patterns inspired by the maze in the grounds of Cannon Hill House.

Public art provides a platform for expressing local values, innovation, memory, meaning, creativity and beauty in each neighbourhood. SCIPs use public art to create a point of difference through improving a centres’ identity, providing a community focal point and celebrating local history and character.