Many long term residents had spent decades living in dilapidated caravans and cabins — unsanitary, in squalor, and in abject poverty. Trapped in this cycle of deprivation, many were also battling drug addiction and severe mental illness, left behind and forgotten, with no way out.

Jonic Properties engaged directly and collaboratively with every relevant government stakeholder to develop a structured and compassionate solution. Working closely with the Department of Housing, the Gold Coast University Hospital Mental Health department, Queensland Police, and multiple departments within the City of Gold Coast Council, we developed and executed a comprehensive relocation program — moving vulnerable residents out of the park and into appropriate accommodation and care. For many, it was the intervention that finally gave them a way out. The transformation was extraordinary by any measure.

Over 200 skips of rubbish were removed from the property. Every cabin was demolished and replaced. All infrastructure and services were fully upgraded to current standards. The remnant rainforest was restored, exotic species removed and replaced with endemic plantings, and Mudgeeraba Creek regenerated — bringing platypus, freshwater turtles and native rainforest birds back to the site.

The outcome was recognised by Gold Coast City Council with formal awards for the achievement — and Rainforest Rental Village has since been adopted by Council as the benchmark standard for residential rental parks across the Gold Coast.

Today, 83 architect-designed, eco-friendly cabins sit quietly beside the creek, providing genuinely affordable homes for some of the most vulnerable people in our community — among them older women, who represent one of the fastest growing and most underserved groups facing housing insecurity in Australia. It is, without question, one of the most meaningful projects Jonic Properties has ever delivered.

Visit the Village website.

Restoring Mudgeeraba Creek

When Sunparks took stewardship of Rainforest Rental Village, the corridor of land along Mudgeeraba Creek told a story of decades of abuse and neglect. The creek had become an illegal dumping ground — car bodies, motorbikes, hundreds of tyres, milk crates, building materials and shopping trolleys had accumulated over many years. We removed approximately 40 skip bins of rubbish from the creek and surrounding land before the real work could begin.

Working closely with Gold Coast City Council’s environmental officers and Watergum Community Inc — a Gold Coast-based environmental charity dedicated to on-ground habitat restoration — we undertook a comprehensive ecological rehabilitation of the entire creek corridor. This land forms part of what Gold Coast City Council identifies as the “missing middle”: a critical network of connected green corridors through the urban landscape.

Invasive species including bamboo, lantana and a range of weed trees were cleared, and in their place we planted species endemic to the area, including blue quandongs, tree ferns and lomandra — a native mat rush that stabilises creek banks and is characteristic of the subtropical riparian environment that once dominated this corridor. A significant section of the land is designated Remnant Rainforest — heavily degraded when we arrived, but now actively recovering.

The transformation has had a profound impact on local wildlife. Where ibis and magpies had been drawn in by decades of food waste — effectively crowding out native species — a targeted strategy developed with Council has reversed that dynamic entirely. The ibis have gone. Magpie numbers have returned to a single resident family. In their place, king parrots, pale-headed rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, multiple kingfisher species and lyrebirds have returned to the corridor.

Below the waterline, the results are equally striking. The creek now supports healthy populations of fish, freshwater turtles and eels — and platypus have returned to the area. Every six months, Watergum organises residents to conduct a formal platypus count, connecting the community directly to the health of the ecosystem on their doorstep.

This is what genuine environmental stewardship looks like — not a gesture, but a long-term collaboration with council, enviromentalists and community that has given a degraded urban waterway its life back.