Centenary Suburbs

Centenary Brisbane,  Queensland
Population	33,016 (2021 census) [1]
• Density	1,942/km2 (5,030/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	4074, 4073
Area	17.0 km2 (6.6 sq mi)
LGA(s)	City of Brisbane Jamboree Ward
State electorate(s)	Mount Ommaney
Federal division(s)	Oxley
Suburbs around Centenary: Pinjarra Hills Kenmore Fig Tree Pocket Bellbowrie Centenary Oxley Moggill Wacol Darra

The Centenary Suburbs are a group of suburbs in the south-west in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The suburbs originated as an "ambitious long-term suburban development proposal that included a number of neighbourhoods, or suburbs, each with sufficient services and facilities for its residents to have their day-to-day needs met without having to go elsewhere". ^[2]

In the 2021 census, the Centenary suburbs had a population of 33,016 people. ^[1]

History

Initially, the area was largely used for grazing and dairy farming.^{[ citation needed ]}

The western part of the original land holdings that became the Centenary Suburbs were part of the Wolston Estate, consisting of 54 farms on an area of 3000 acres, offered for auction at Centennial Hall, Brisbane, on 16 October 1901. ^[3] Wolston Estate is the property of M. B. Goggs, whose father obtained the land forty years previously in the 1860s and after whom Goggs Road is named. ^[4] Only three of the farms sold at the original auction. ^[5]

The area was given its name by land developer Hooker Rex in 1959, Queensland's centenary year that marked its separation from New South Wales in 1859. ^[6] Originally the land was all known as Jindalee, indeed the 1967/68 Australian Scout Jamboree, held in what is now Jamboree Heights, is recorded as being held in Jindalee.^{[ citation needed ]}

From 1960 onwards Jindalee was progressively broken up into smaller suburbs, being:

• Jindalee
• Mount Ommaney
• Jamboree Heights
• Middle Park
• Westlake
• Riverhills
• Sumner

The area was severely damaged in the 1974 floods, including structural damage to the Centenary Bridge after a barge became stuck under the upstream side of the then two-lane bridge. The barge was deliberately holed using explosives and allowed to sink to reduce the floodwater pressure, before being refloated after the flood waters had receded and beached near Fig Tree Pocket to be cut up for scrap. The damage sustained by the bridge required its partial closure for repairs, prior to its duplication in 1980.^{[ citation needed ]}

While originally referring to new suburbs west of Centenary Highway, the new residential areas developed on the eastern side of that highway, namely Sinnamon Park and Seventeen Mile Rocks have been included within the Centenary suburbs since the 2011 census. However, the mostly industrial suburb of Sumner is excluded. ^[7]

Demographics

In the 2016 census, the Centenary suburbs had a population of 32,529 people. ^[8]

In the 2021 census, the Centenary suburbs had a population of 33,016 people. ^[1]

Environmental Protection

As residential expansion progressed, the 1990s saw the rise of community efforts to preserve riverfront bushland along the Brisbane River and encourage environmental protection of remnant natural areas in the Centenary Suburbs. The first groups which formed to forge this greater interest in grassroots environmental protection were:

• Save Our Riverfront Bushland (SORB), established Sep 1991; ^[9]
• Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group, established1993; ^[10] and
• Centenary and District Environment Action Inc, established 1996. ^[11]

Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group (WRBG) was the first community-based, volunteer-run bushland rehabilitation group to be established in the Centenary Suburbs. WRBG commenced operations in 1993 at its site at Pullen Reach, ^[12] under the auspices of Brisbane City Council through a program that came to be known as Habitat Brisbane. ^[13]

By the late 1990s, additional local Habitat Brisbane bushland rehabilitation groups began to flourish, and by 2010 there were around a dozen such groups in the Centenary Suburbs and the surrounding south-western suburbs of Brisbane. ^{[14] [15]}

In 2008, a community-based catchment group, Wolston and Centenary Catchments (WaCC), was formed. ^[16] Since May 2014, WaCC has been operating from its base at the Pooh Corner Environment Centre (PCEC). ^[17] This facility is located at the Wolston Road frontage to the Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve. ^[18]

The formation and activities of the above-mentioned groups in the Centenary Suburbs has fulfilled, in part, certain observations by conservation ecologist, Peter Young, who stated in 1990:

While it is unrealistic to suppose that there will be any large-scale rehabilitation or regeneration of land to something approaching its natural condition in the foreseeable future, some small tracts of land in the lower reaches (of the Brisbane River) deserve better care than they currently receive. ... Initiatives for the rehabilitation and care of such areas have to come from local communities, not government bodies, to be effective. ^[19]

Indeed, Young specifically identified remnant vegetation pockets both within, and upstream of, the Centenary Suburbs, including a rainforest fragment then still present on a small tributary below Mt Ommaney. ^[20] That particular remnant vegetation fragment is adjacent to the site where the Jindalee Bushcare Group established and continues to operate. That group's site encompasses the Mount Ommaney walkway, which skirts the slope below the prominent hill that bears the same name, and is adjacent to Mount Ommaney Creek, near its confluence with the Brisbane River. ^{[21] [22]}

Public transport

The following bus routes service all or part of the Centenary Suburbs:

• 103 - Mount Ommaney - Inala : Local via Darra (Every day) (BT)
• 106 - Mount Ommaney - Indooroopilly : Local via Sinnamon Park, Seventeen Mile Rocks, Oxley, Corinda, Sherwood, Graceville and Chelmer (Monday-Saturday) (BT)
• 450 - City - Riverhills : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Jindalee, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekends) (BT)
• 451 - Mount Ommaney - Darra Station : Link via Sinnamon Park (Weekdays - Peak Hours Only) (BT)
• 452 - Riverhills - Darra Station : Loop via Middle Park (Weekdays - Peak Hours Only) (BT)
• 453 - City - Mount Ommaney : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Jindalee (Weekdays) (BT)
• 454 - City - Riverhills : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays) (BT)
• 455 - City - Riverhills : Rocket via Legacy Way, Western Freeway, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 456 - City - Mount Ommaney : Rocket via Legacy Way, Western Freeway and Jindalee (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 457 - City - Riverhills : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway, Jindalee, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 458 - City - Mount Ommaney : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway and Jindalee. (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 459 - City - Riverhills : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 460 - City - Forest Lake & Inala : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Mount Ommaney (Every day) (BT)
• N464 - City & Valley - Forest Lake : NightLink via Fortitude Valley, City, Milton, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Mount Ommaney (Late night Friday - Saturday only) (BT)

Schools

There are three state primary schools, one private primary school and one state high school in the Centenary suburbs, being:

School Name	Opened	Colours	Address	Website
Jindalee State School	1966		Burrendah Road, Jindalee	http://www.jindaleess.eq.edu.au/
Jamboree Heights State School	January 1974		Beanland Street, Jamboree Heights	https://web.archive.org/web/20110205082717/http://www.jambheigss.eq.edu.au/
Good News Lutheran School	1984		Horizon Drive, Middle Park	http://www.goodnews.qld.edu.au/
Middle Park State School	January 1987		Sumners Road, Middle Park	https://web.archive.org/web/20071010020628/http://www.middparkss.eq.edu.au/
Centenary State High School	1999		Moolanda Street, Jindalee	http://www.centenaryshs.eq.edu.au/

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Centenary (SAL3)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
2. "History Suburban Period (1962 and later)". Centenary Suburbs Historical Society Inc. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
3. "Plan of the Wolston Estate" (1901) [Map]. Collections. State Library of Queensland.
4. "SALE OF WOLSTON ESTATE". The Brisbane Courier . Vol. LVIII, no. 13, 651. Queensland, Australia. 12 October 1901. p. 4. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2019– via National Library of Australia.
5. "LATEST NEWS IN BRIEF". The Queenslander . Vol. LXI, no. 1353. Queensland, Australia. 26 October 1901. p. 780. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2019– via National Library of Australia.
6. Historical overview, Centenary Suburbs Historical Society website Archived 26 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
7. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Centenary". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
8. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Centenary (SAL3)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
9. Parker, Ed. "Save Our Riverfront Bushland (SORB)". www.sorb.org.au. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
10. "CDEA - Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group". www.cdea.org.au. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
11. "Centenary and District Environment Action Inc". www.cdea.org.au. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
12. Map of WRBG site at Pullen Reach Archived 17 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine
13. Brisbane City Council - Habitat Brisbane program Archived 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
14. BCC Habitat Brisbane - western groups Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
15. BCC Habitat Brisbane - southern groups Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
16. "Wolston and Centenary Catchments". www.wacc.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
17. Google Maps: Pooh Corner Environment Centre (PCEC), 100 Wolston Rd, Wacol Qld 4076
18. See Pooh Corner in: Brisbane City - Parks in Wacol Archived 13 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
19. Young, Peter (1990). Davie, Peter; Stock, Errol; Low Choy, Darryl (eds.). The Brisbane River - A Sourcebook for the Future. Moorooka, Brisbane: Australian Littoral Society in association with the Queensland Museum. p. 89. ISBN   978-0-7316-5440-6.
20. ibid. p. 87.
21. Map of Jindalee Bushcare Group site, at Mount Ommaney walkway Archived 17 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine
22. "CDEA - Jindalee Bushcare Group". www.cdea.org.au. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

External links

• "How the Centenary suburbs came to be". Centenary Today.
• "Centenary Suburbs Historical Society Inc".