My suburb is a bird-filled paradise next to a mighty river. There’s nothing dull about life here

June 1, 2026 — 5:00am

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My father, John Arthur McKelvey Shera, was a revered doctor in the city of Ipswich and a survivor of the Kokoda Trail. He also served in Tarakan, Balikpapan and Morotai.

In the 1980s, John became the accidental subject of an Archibald Prize winning portrait. His daughter-in law, Davida Allen, came upon him shirtless and watering his garden, and she abandoned her plans to submit a painting of Sam Neill for a far more attractive subject (no offence Sam).

I lived with John in Ipswich in his declining years in his big old Queenslander within a jungle of trees. After he died, in 1998, it was time to settle down and raise my own family, and we chose leafy Jindalee. Dad remains with us on the wall here as a nod to the ancestor worship that many in Vietnamese culture practise.

I had youthful memories of Jindalee. I recalled the 1967-68 Scout Jamboree, when two of my brothers made a pretty good fist of putting up a tent Versailles – only to burn one of the tents down while basting a leg of mutton above an open fire.

Across the bridge and around the corner from Jindalee was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Fauna Reserve, another highlight from my childhood. I remember taking the boat upriver from Brisbane to this fabled place in the 1950s. I recall being thrilled there were public baths, a golf course, an athletics track, a butcher, a pharmacy,........

© Brisbane Times