Name change for Bluey and Jean

A beachside park on Bribie Island will be renamed to honour “significant contributions to Woorim” by Bluey and Jean Piva.

Moreton Bay City Council has backed an application to change Bluey Piva Park, on Rickman Pde, to Bluey and Jean Piva Park.

The proposal includes adding history board saying: “Elio “Bluey” & Jean Piva purchased the Bribie Hotel in June 1966, making it a community hub.

“Bluey was a charter member of the Bribie Island Lions Club. Jean, a pioneering advocate for women's equality and the youngest female hotel licensee in Queensland.

“Together, they made significant contributions to the Woorim community.”

Bluey died in 2009 and Jean in August last year, after retiring to Glasshouse Mountains, ending decades of community work for organisations and causes.

Bluey, Jean and their children Peter, Judith and Ken, moved to Bribie in 1966 buying the Hotel Bribie (which they changed to Blue Pacific Hotel) at Woorim.

Jean became the licencee for their new venture and would later be inducted into the Queensland Hotels Association Hall of Fame.

She helped set-up the Quota Club on Bribie, serving as its president, was a JP for more than 50 years, president of Bribie Lioness Club and Queensland Women’s National Party and founding member of Bribie Island Golf Club.

Jean campaigned for Bribie’s first permanent doctor, helped raise funds for a permanent ambulance station and worked to promote tourism on Bribie and across the Moreton Bay region.

She fought to keep maternity wards in the state’s country hospitals, helped raise funds for Bribie Island Surf Lifesaving Club and was a member of the chamber of commerce.

Supporting the new park name, State Member for Glass House Andrew Powell said Jean was a “fantastic member of both the Bribie Island and the Glasshouse Mountains communities”.