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(L-R) Gus Bell (Lee Halley), Slim Halliday (Bryan Brown), and Eli Bell (Felix Cameron) in a “Boy Swallows Universe” scene
This is a $395,000 weather shed that will introduce Brisbane's suburbs to the world.
In Netflix's hit series Boy Swallows Universe, a post-war rented house built on the outskirts of the city in 1950 is transformed into the home of the show's 12-year-old protagonist, Eli.
The seven-part series, set in the 1980s and based on Trent Dalton's best-selling book, was filmed entirely on the outskirts of Brisbane in 2022. The gritty but warm semi-biographical story entered Netflix's top five worldwide in the first week of this month.
Eli's childhood home depicted in the Boy Swallows Universe. Photo: Provided/Netflix
The Beenleigh house is currently renting for $440 a week.
A scene from the television series starring Travis Fimmel as Lyle Orlick.
The three-bedroom in the Logan suburb of Beenleigh was the childhood home of Eli and his younger brother Gus. It was renovated with a retro interior, painted blue, and production staff added a patio and fence.
The home last sold in 2015 for $395,000, according to property records.
It was listed again in 2018 for $426,000, but it did not sell and was placed in the rental pool.
In 2016, the weekly rent was $310, but it jumped to $440 in February 2023, the last time it was rented through Remax Revolution's Donna Starkins.
original retro kitchen
Classic hills hoist in the backyard
According to PropTrack data, the median home price in Beenleigh is $590,000, an increase of 7.3% in the past 12 months. Average weekly rent in December 2023 increased by 9.3% to $470.
Starkins said the house was repainted a cream color, in honor of its starring role, before being rented to its current occupants.
“From what I hear, people are driving by to see it,” she said.
Across town, a cream and green house with bay windows and a poinciana tree in front, on a duplex high up in Wavell Heights, became the home of the boys' father, Robert. When Eli and Gus went shopping for a second-hand Atari game consulate with their father-in-law Lyle, a grand Queensland building with a pool and tennis court on Blue Ribbon Street in Chelmer came up.
The Stones Corner Freemasons building was used as the headquarters of the Courier-Mail until shortly before it was demolished.
This style was typical of public housing built in the 1950s and 60s.
Architectural historian Marian Taylor, of The House Detective, said Beenleigh's house was typical of the modest style of the 1950s and 1960s and was likely built as council housing.
“After World War II, materials and labor were so scarce that they just built functional housing as quickly as possible,” Taylor said.
“The series uses a house in Beenleigh, which is exactly the type of unconventional house that would have been in Darla, where the books are set.”
She said the cityscapes and moments captured in the series would resonate with generations of Queenslanders.
Architectural historian Marianne Taylor. Photo: Liam Kidston.
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“I think a lot of people can relate to the working-class lifestyle that's captured in this film. For me, it's great to see the lower socio-economic housing that I grew up in portrayed on screen. , it's very refreshing,” Taylor said.
The secret escape room behind the cupboard that was the centerpiece of the Dalton estate was not a common architectural feature of the time, but the outhouse to which the room was connected via a dusty crawl space It was.
“It was a big surprise because old barns were in every backyard and in Brisbane, up until the 1980s, a lot of houses still had dunnys in their backyards,” Ms Taylor said.
The Wavell Heights house used as the home of Eli and Gus' father Robert in the Boy Swallows universe.
This style is typical of more upscale homes built in the 1930s.
original built-in kitchen cabinets
Rachel Radulovich, co-founder of location rental platform Aloka, said original, old-style homes are in “high demand” and typical hourly rates range from $100 to $400.
“Many TV commercials and some TV series, especially Australian dramas, love the authentic charm and personality that retro suburban homes bring to their work,” Radulovic said.
Dalton's real-life childhood home was in the northern Brisbane suburb of Brackenridge, but he currently lives in The Gap.
This traditional Queensland house in Chelmer also featured in the series
The Masonic building at Stones Corner was demolished.
Listings for the Beenleigh home for rent include three spacious bedrooms, a sunroom to the entrance, a large bathroom, an open-plan eat-in kitchen, a large garden and a two-car carport. It was described as a “well-appointed Queensland home''.
Close to shops, schools, bowls clubs and the train station.
The area is attracting attention due to its affordability, with affordable first home buyers and investors looking further away from the CBD to get on the property ladder.
