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Capital of Queensland
History – The first Europeans to settle in the MoretonBay region were three timber getters by the name of Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons who were blown off course on their route to Sydney in 1823. However, it was John Oxley who first explored the Brisbane River in 1823.Oxley named the river after Governor, Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane, who had sent him up the coast to find a new penal settlement. Initially, the first penal settlement was established at Redcliffe but was moved further up to the present site of Brisbane in 1825. Between 1824 and 1842 no Europeans were allowed to settle within 80 kilometres of the penal settlement. In 1837, AndrewPetrie arrived in Brisbane to supervise the building of the town and he became Brisbane’s first free settler. In 1859, Queensland became its own colony and Brisbane was proclaimed a municipality. Much of the development took place in inner Brisbane. However, its growth was hampered by the lack of financial resources and it was only the discovery of gold in Gympie which saved Brisbane and Queensland. In 1925, twenty-one local authorities were amalgamated and the BrisbaneCity Council was formed. It was after World War II when people began living in the outer suburbs of Brisbane due to the fact they could afford cars and could live further away from the city. The city has grown significantly over the years, especially with the influx of post-war immigrants and Vietnamese refugees in the 1980s. Since then Brisbane has started to shed its image as a big country town, especially after it hosted World Expo 88.
Indigenous Tribes – Jukambe, Jagara, Koenpal, Nunukul, Undanbi, Dalla, Dungidau, Nalbo, Dungibara, Garumga and Ngugi people
Industries - Residential
History – Captain James Cook was the first European to pass the Gold Coast in 1770 naming Point Danger and Mount Warning. However, the area wasn’t officially opened up until the 1840s after the penal settlement at Brisbane was closed. A government surveyor Robert Dixon charted the Gold Coast in 1842. The land was first taken up at Tweed Heads, Nerang and the CoomeraRiver by pastoralists building a timber industry. Not many people were interested in the land closer to the coast as it wasn’t suitable for agriculture. In 1889 the railway reached Nerang and then Southport. Southport was officially established in 1902 as a resort town. For 15 years beforehand holiday homes had been built on the coast at Southport. The first one had been built by a Governor of Queensland, Governor Musgrave in 1885. The railway was then built to Coolangatta and Tweed Heads in 1903. In 1915 the first blocks of land at Surfers Paradise were auctioned off. Initially Surfers Paradise was known as Elston but the name was changed by JimCavill in 1933, establishing it as the holiday playground it is today. What was known as the SouthCoast, only became known as the Gold Coast in the late 1940s by Brisbane newspapers describing the real estate boom in the area. The name stuck and it officially became known as the Gold Coast in 1959. Ever since then it has been the fastest growing city in Australia and is the seventh largest city in the country.
Indigenous Tribes – Yugambeh and Kombumerris people
Industries – Tourism and sugar
40 KM West of Brisbane
History – Ipswich was first explored by Captain Patrick Logan in 1826. He was the commandant of the newly established convict settlement on MoretonBay. Captain Logan had found limestone on the BremnerRiver and a small convict camp was developed to supply lime and sheep for Brisbane’s needs. The settlement was originally known as Limestone. The area was opened up for free settlement in 1842 and the site for a town was surveyed at Limestone Station – it was renamed Ipswich a year later. Mining began in 1843 after coal was discovered at Redbank. However, between 1840 and 1860 the area was dominated by wool production and the BremnerRiver was used to ship wool to the coast. In 1860 Ipswich became a municipality and it continued to grow with the railway arriving in 1876. The town was declared a city in 1904. Originally, Ipswich was based on the mining, industrial and agricultural base but over the years it slowly changed directions and is now a major residential area.
Indigenous Tribes – Jukambe and Jugara people
Industries – Manufacturing, retail, residential, cattle, dairy, coal and grain farming
85 KM West of Brisbane
(formed following the amalgamation of the Gatton and Laidley Shire Councils - 15 March 2008)
History – The Gatton area was explored in 1825 by Major Edmund Lockyer who was instructed to explore the Brisbane River and managed to get to Ipswich where he found coal and discovered the Stanley River. The area was settled in the 1840s when it was opened up to free settlers. By 1855 the township of Gatton was gazetted and by 1858 it was a major stopover point between Brisbane and the Darling Downs. When the railway reached the area in 1875 it became a major service centre for surrounding farms. In 1897 the Gatton Agricultural College was opened and was one of the first training and teaching institutions in Australia that was dedicated to land development and animal husbandry. The college is still open today although it is now run by the Queensland University. Over the years the region has continued to grow and has changed from a predominantly rural to a more closely settled rural residential environment.
Indigenous Tribes – Jagara Kitabul and Birren people
Industries – Beef, dairy, crops (vegetables), agriculture and cotton.
19 KM South of Brisbane
History – The first European to explore Logan city was the Commandant of the MoretonBay Penal Settlement – PatrickLogan – who explored the river in 1826. He described the area as some of the finest land he has ever seen and named the river Darling after the Governor. But, the Governor renamed it Logan after the explorer for his enthusiasm and efficiency. However, it was some years later before the land was settled with squatters only moving into the area once the Penal Settlement in Brisbane had closed in 1841. Extensive settlement in the area took place in 1862 following the declaration of the Logan and Eight Mile Plains Agricultural Reserves I 1862. Most of the people who moved into the area were Irish and English settlers and then German immigrants. Cotton was the first commercial crop grown in the area, followed by sugar and then dairying. However, the use of the land changed after World War II when there became an urgent need for housing. Urban development began in the late 60s and public housing was built in some of the suburbs. Logan shire was created in 1978 and the city was proclaimed in 1981. Between 1986 and 1996, Logan city was one of the fastest growing areas in Australia with the population increasing from 120,000 to 160,000.
Indigenous Tribes – Yugambeh and Jaggera people
Industries – residential, service and retail, manufacturing
40 KM North of Brisbane
(Formed following the amalgamation of the Caboolture, Pine Rivers and Redcliffe Shire Councils - 15 March 2008).
History – The coastline the region was explored by Matthew Flinders in 1799. At the time he thought Bribie Island was connected to the coast and he sailed up what he thought to be a river – naming it Pumicestone Passage. Flinders also came across Red Cliffe Point, which he explored and named. John Oxley was the next European to explore the region whilst looking for a suitable site for a convict settlement. Oxley initially named Red Cliffe Point as an ideal sport for the penal settlement.The settlement was established in 1824 with temporary huts being built for the soldiers – their families – and 29 convicts. However, Aboriginal attacks, mosquitoes and the lack of safe anchorage meant the settlement was moved to the banks of the Brisbane River in 1825. It was not until the closure of the Moreton Bay convict settlement in the early 1840s when people began to settle in the area.The Archer brothers were the first Europeans to settle in the region in 1841, setting up Durundur Station on the banks of the Stanley River- where Woodford now stands. At that time, Caboolture was the northern most settlement for the colony of New South Wales. Timber was the first major industry for the region, until the 1860s when more people settled in the area and grew vegetables, sugar cane, wheat, maize and Indian corn. Caboolture grew following the discovery of gold at Gympie in 1868. It became a major stopover point for Cobb and Co coaches traveling to Brisbane. The region underwent urban development during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and now is a part of Brisbane's outer suburbs.
Indigenous Tribes – Kabi, Turrbal, Waka and Undambi people
Industries – agriculture, fishing, forestry retail, manufacturing and service, construction, property and business services, and hospitality
26 KM SE of Brisbane
History – The region was named by Captain James Cook as Cleveland in 1770 when he sailed passed the area. However, it's real history begins in 1840 when Cleveland was touted as a possible port and capital for Queensland. However, when Governor Sir George Gipps sailed into the area and jumped out of the boat into waist high muddy tidal flats, he became unimpressed with the area. Cleveland became a township in 1850 and is the main access point for ferries to North Stradbroke Island.
65 KM South-West of Brisbane
(Formed following the amalgamation of the Beaudesert and Boonah Shire Councils).
History – Beaudesert shire was explored in the late 1820s by Allan Cunningham and Patrick Logan. However, it wasn’t settled until 1842 when BeauDesert station was established in the area. The property remained until the 1860s when it was broken up and large numbers of people moved into the area because of its closeness to Brisbane. Beaudesert was proclaimed a town in 1876 and the railway arrived in 1888. Meanwhile, other small farms were established in the area with the township of Boonah established in 1882 as a service centre for the surrounding region.
Indigenous Tribes – Kitabal, Jukambe and Jagara people
Industries – Tourism, vegetables, horse studs, boutigue wineries, cereal crops, beef, pork, agriculture and timber
94 KM North-West of Brisbane
(Formed following the amalgamation of the Esk and Kilcory Shire Councils - 15 March 2008).
History – The region was first settled by European pastoralists when the area was opened up by the New South Wales government in the 1840s. Much of the earlier settlers were German and it was only when the railway came to the area in 1886 that further settlement took place. One of the first properties to be settled in the 1840s was Wivenhoe run, part of which was handed over to the government in the 1860s as it was to form a the Wivenhoe Dam in the 1970s. Evan and Colin McKenzie were the first Europeans to settle in the region in 1841. They established a 35,000 acre run and named it Kilcoy after a family estate in Scotland. The property was sold in 1854 to Captain Louis Hope who built the Kilcoy homestead. The area grew with people settling in the area to raise dairy herds and cut timber. Gold mining took place at Jimna from the 1860s to 1948 with the Yabba goldfields gazetted in 1868.
Indigenous Tribes – Garumga and Dalla people
Industries – dairy, beef, timber and tourism
- Kilcoy - the home of the mythical half-man and half-beast Yowie, which is Australia’s equivalent to Himalayan Yeti or America’s Big Foot. It appeared in Aboriginal folklore for thousands of year and official statistics show there were over 3000 sightings throughout Australia between 1975 and 1979. Kilcoy also hosts one of the biggest music festivals in the country called the Woodford Folk Festival.
- Esk - known for its deer. These are the descendents of a number of deer given to the Acclimatisation Society of Queensland by Queen Victoria in 1873.
96 KM North of Brisbane
(Formed following the amalgamation of the Caloundra, Maroochy and Noosa City Councils).
History – Captain James Cook was the first European to sail past Caloundra in 1770, sighting and naming the Glass House Mountains as he went past. The next explorer was Matthew Flinders who after sailing through Pumicestone Passage went ashore and climbed Mount Beerburrum. The first Europeans to settle in the area were runaway convicts who lived with the aboriginals in the 1820s. Andrew Petrie arrived in the area and collected specimens of the Bunya Pine. A Bunya Proclamation was passed in 1842 preventing people to settlement where Bunya Pine grew. The Proclamation led to the creation of an Aboriginal reserve. Cattlemen settled in the northern banks of the Maroochy River in the 1850s but were refused leases in what are now Maroochydore and Mooloolaba because of the Bunya Pine. When the colony of Queensland was created in 1859, the Bunya Proclamation lapsed, allowing settlement in the area. John Ballinger was the first person to set himself up in the area, while explorer William Landsborough bought Golden Beach in 1882 with the reward money he received for his travels. It was during the 1880s that Caloundra gained a reputation as a seaside resort, while the hinterland was developed for agriculture purposes. Meanwhile, Noosa also had the beginnings of a small fishing village but it wasn't until after World War 1 that it began to become a popular tourist resort that it is today.
Indigenous Tribes – Undumbi, Nalbo, Dallambarra, Kabi and GubbiGubbi people
Industries – tourism, agriculture, education, fishing and forestry. |