Pine Rivers Uniting Church is contesting a compulsory acquisition of its site, with the Uniting Church of Australia, Queensland Synod lodging a formal appeal after being notified the property is earmarked for a new special school.
The church has stood at the Narangba Road site for more than 100 years. Its weekly emergency relief program feeds around 70 local families from Kallangur and Pine Rivers every week. It also provides pastoral care, youth programs, mental health support, chaplaincy, worship services and assistance for people in financial hardship.
Sharing the property is Pinnacle Academic College, a small independent school providing individualised education. The campus was previously home to Charlotte Mason College, which closed its doors in late 2023.
None of that activity has been given a path forward if the acquisition proceeds.
A community built over more than a century
The church has served the Kallangur area and surrounds, including Petrie, Dakabin, Lawnton, Strathpine and Murrumba Downs, for generations. For many families in the area, it has been the first point of contact in a crisis — referred through chaplains, social workers and community agencies rather than found through a search.
Its emergency relief operation alone involves coordinating food parcels and practical support for dozens of households every week. That kind of service does not simply relocate. It depends on relationships, volunteer networks, referral pathways and trust built over years. Losing the physical home risks unravelling all of it.
The church has not opposed the idea of a special school. It has consistently made that clear. In a statement, the Queensland Synod said it welcomes investment in education and recognises the need for specialist schooling in a growing community. “Our position is not opposition,” the Synod said. “It is about finding a way to make this work for everyone. We would welcome the school as part of our community.”
The church says it has sought meetings, written correspondence and invited decision-makers to visit the site to see the breadth of what happens there. It is awaiting a decision on its appeal.
A local representative who put the community’s concern on record
Division 7 Ms Yvonne Barlow presented a 61-signature petition on the church’s behalf. She said the lack of consultation before the decision was made had troubled her as much as the decision itself.
“I am very concerned it would be bulldozed,” she said, “and more upset there was no consultation over this.”
“I understand the need for special schools, but I know the special role the church has played in the community for many, many years. They will get money, but that doesn’t help a church which has been there for more than 100 years. There’s a great deal of sentiment.”
The petition and the appeal are the formal mechanisms now available to the church and community. The site’s neighbouring aged care facility is not part of the acquisition.
The need for the school is real — and so is the cost of this solution
Plans for a new special school in Moreton Bay were funded to address enrolment pressure at Pine Rivers Special School. The need is genuine. The region is one of the fastest-growing in Queensland, and specialist education infrastructure has not kept pace with population growth.
But the church’s position, and the position of those who have signed the petition, is that the need for a school and the loss of this particular community hub are not an either/or situation. The site is large enough, the church argues, for both to coexist.
“This is not simply about land,” the Queensland Synod statement said. “It is about people — those who rely on these services, those who volunteer and the many who call this place home.”
Anyone wanting to support Pine Rivers Uniting Church or its emergency relief program can contact the church at 30 Narangba Road, Kallangur, or through pineriverschurch.com.
Published 4-June-2026
Featured Image Credit: Pine Rivers Uniting Church
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