The Parkside story is one of rich history and diversity.
Bruno Tapiolas Vila
Looking to start a new life from his economic broken country of Spain, Bruno Tapiolas Vila arrived in Australia in 1911 at the age of 20 years. He worked tirelessly without being paid, with the promise of equity in the cane farm he worked. It wasn’t long before Bruno owned the farm, which was the start of his aspirations for a future for his family.
Australia lived up to its reputation of being the land of opportunity and Bruno’s farming venture flourished and became the financial grounding for what was to follow. Bruno’s ingenuity led him to develop more efficient cane irrigation systems that are still in use today.
Soon after World War II, Bruno was wanting to build a new home for his young family and realising that building materials were in short supply locally, he embarked on a 400km journey to the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland to source timber.
It did not take long for word to spread that he had found a good supply of timber and Bruno then began to sell the timber loads he brought back.
From the necessity of timber, Bruno saw an opportunity and in 1947 in Ayr, North Queensland, Parkside was born, with a timber sales and joinery business.
Not satisfied with selling only building materials, Bruno decided to start his own home building construction company, Tropical Homes, which has grown to become one of Queensland’s largest project home builders today, with well over 15,000 homes built for Queenslanders.
With sweat and determination Parkside, now with Bruno’s three sons Wilfred, Brunie and Joe involved, the business grew very quickly and the company needed a guaranteed supply of timber to supply the expanding business.
An opportunity presented itself in 1962, with Parkside acquiring their first sawmill at Eungella, which then lead to Parkside expanding their timber sales and building materials business into Townsville in 1966.
In 1972, Parkside acquired a larger and more efficient sawmill in Mackay. With a guarantee of its own timber supply, Parkside then grew quickly to become a dominant player in North Queensland for timber sales and building materials.
With a continued passion for timber, over the following decades, Parkside acquired sawmills at Builyan, Theodore, Wandoan, Eidsvold and Wondai in South West Queensland. Then recently, in 2019, Parkside expanded its milling operations even further by acquiring mills and processing plants at Greenbushes and Nannup in Western Australia, and Orbost and Bairnsdale in Victoria. Parkside is Australia’s largest hardwood millers and timber manufacturers in Australia, producing world class timber products to Australia, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The Tapiolas family continued to expand and flourish into residential land and commercial development with estates created in Ayr and Townsville in the mid 1960’s.
The late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and through to the 90’s, saw the third generation of Tapiolas family join the business with Wilfred Junior, Robert, Peter and Dianne.
The 1970’s also saw Parkside develop retail and commercial properties. Today this is an impressive portfolio aligning with large retailers like Coles and Woolworths. This portfolio remains an integral part of the operations.
With a constant look for opportunities to expand the enterprise, Parkside expanded its operations to Papua New Guinea in 2013 with the establishment of South Pacific Homes Ltd, based in the country’s capital, Port Moresby. The Tapiolas family sees the same opportunities in Papua New Guinea as Australia afforded Bruno Tapiolas Vila back in 1911.
Today, 100 years after Bruno Tapiolas Vila first arrived in Australia, he and his family’s vision has materialised, with Parkside now a major player in the timber, home building and development industries.
Peter and Dianne are now at the helm with Joe still playing an active advisory role and the 4th generation, Michael Tapiolas, joining the business to carry it forward into a new future.
As a private family business, the Tapiolas family understand the importance of forming lasting relationships with all our customers. We appreciate the importance of your success as this in turn; will lead to our success.