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| The 1970s - The second REIQ home | |
At the beginning of the 1970s REIQ membership totaled 1,307 and the Annual Report was crammed with details of activities. After a little more than 10 years, the business of the Institute had expanded so dramatically that the number of Board members was increased from 16 to 18 to "allow the business matters of the Institute to be more evenly distributed". Larger premises were needed and Lloyd Olsen was on the board in 1972 when things started to happen: |
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"Gordon Postle - he had a bit of go in him - he said 'we should get out of this now and go into something more suitable'. So we bought a place down in Brunswick Street in the Valley...and it was quite a big place." "They sold Leichhardt Street and I think they at least had a start to pay off Brunswick Street because the £30,000 ($60,000) in Leichhardt Street had turned into about £180,000 ($360,000). I give Gordon credit for turning around and saying just because we have got a place now doesn't mean we stop there forever." |
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John Burley had only just been elected to the Board when the decision was made to move Brunswick Street. he remembers just how large it was but could see the benefit in it all: "We sold off the back section (the sheds) and with the monies that we got from that we just about had the place debt-free. Then we were able to have a proper Board room and have better facilities for the Institute staff; and we also had lecture rooms and we could then do better things for our people. Read estate prices were going up quite dramatically at that stage, and there were more people coming into the industry." |
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There was ample space in the cavernous premises and Jack Rowell once commented that "we had so much space that we could hardly find each other". The premises were officially opened on 2 November 1977. An average three-bedroom house was selling for about $24,500 by the middle of the decade. But times were tight in the mid 1970s with a few building societies showing signs of going under. Interest rates at the bank fluctuated a little but averaged 5 per cent. 1971 was a big year for legislation with the first amendment to the Auctioneers, Real Estate Agents, and Motor Dealers Act since it was introduced in 1922. The Real Estate Journal was no being published bi-monthly but articles were getting harder to squeeze out of the members. On the upside, the Queensland Real Estate bowlers flogged New South Wales in their annual tournament, which was conducted in Maryborough in 1975. Other social activities included the annual dinner at Lennons, which was addressed by Sir Gordon Chalk; and a theatre night run by Bruce Blocksidge at La Boite Theatre, which was apparently "a pleasant social occasion". |
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Order your copy of Dreams, Deeds and Dedication: A History of the REIQ here |
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1970s |
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