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Stockland celebrates 70 years of creating connected communities

Update
April 21, 2022

From humble beginnings in Sefton in suburban Sydney, Stockland was born from the idea of Ervin Graf - a young Hungarian migrant who came to Australia on a bricklaying visa in 1950.

Having studied architecture before leaving his home country after World War II, Ervin quickly identified a need for affordable housing in the rapidly booming post-war community. He secured backing from Albert Scheinberg and John Hammond and created our first housing estate in 1952.

Located close to Sefton Railway Station, the housing estate included the subdivision of a small poultry farm into 19 homes.

Ervin worked physically on this project, drawing the housing plans, laying the bricks and paving the driveways.

From this small scale beginning, housing activity grew rapidly and the company continued to make a mark on Sefton, later acquiring land which would become a community of 160 homes. 

The company began to expand throughout Sydney and then interstate over the years, and for more than 70 years we have been creating connected communities, the places where Australians live, work, shop and play.

Ervin's vision was "to not merely achieve growth and profits but to make a worthwhile contribution to the development of our cities and great country."

Stockland is one of Australia's largest diversified property groups and for 70 years we've been paving the way, creating sustainable, thriving communities where people live, shop and work.

Today, we own, fund, develop and manage a large portfolio of retail town centres, workplace and logistics assets and residential, land lease and retirement communities.

To mark the occasion, our interactive timeline celebrates the key milestones and stories that have taken us from humble beginnings in Sefton to being a leading creator and curator of connected communities today.

Click here to watch our interactive timeline.