Farming and quarrying continued, as the sole activities on the land, until Reid Murray Developments (R.M.D.) began acquiring land for subdivision in 1959. The development was, at the time, the largest private housing development in Australia and had a budget of £6 million. R.M.D. was not the only developer active in the suburb with most of the Goodall and McIntyre farmland being sold to, or subdivided by, other companies. In total R.M.D. purchased . R.M.D. copied a new concept from the South Australian Housing Trust's new development at Elizabeth, constructing the suburb as a self-contained neighborhood from the outset. Unusually fifteen percent of the land was set aside for parks, arrangements were made with Woolworths (S.A.) Ltd to provide a supermarket, and with the State government for the speedy provision of a post office and school. Land allotments were set to a minimum of and, to transform the bare farm land, a street tree-planting and nursery program was begun with new residents being given six plants to start a garden. R.M.D. did not sell any vacant land, but only complete house, land and some furnishings packages (prices ranging from £4,000 to £5,500). The houses all had three or more bedrooms, flat corrugated iron or angled tile roofs, and were constructed from bricks, modular concrete blocks or Mount Gambier freestone.