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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER GENEALOGY ...................3
Captain Patrick Logan 1791-1830 ............................................................................4
Chronology of Logan district history.........................................................................6
Cobb and Co.............................................................................................................17
GENEALOGY RESOURCES - LOCAL STUDIES .............................................22
Cotton Growing in the Logan District .....................................................................23
Irish settlement in the Logan district in the 19th century ........................................26
Kingston Butter Factory...........................................................................................29
Local Government in Logan....................................................................................30
MAYES COTTAGE................................................................................................30
EIGHT MILE PLAINS............................................................................................34
SUBURBS OF LOGAN ..........................................................................................36
Berrinba:...................................................................................................................36
Boronia Heights: ......................................................................................................36
Browns Plains: .........................................................................................................37
Carbrook: .................................................................................................................37
Cornubia:..................................................................................................................38
Crestmead: ...............................................................................................................39
Daisy Hill:................................................................................................................39
Forestdale:................................................................................................................39
Greenbank:...............................................................................................................40
Heritage Park: ..........................................................................................................40
Hillcrest:...................................................................................................................40
Kingston:..................................................................................................................40
Logan Central:..........................................................................................................41
Logan Reserve: ........................................................................................................42
Loganholme: ............................................................................................................43
Loganlea:..................................................................................................................45
Marsden:...................................................................................................................46
Meadowbrook: .........................................................................................................46
Park Ridge:...............................................................................................................47
Priestdale:.................................................................................................................47
Regents Park: ...........................................................................................................47
Rochedale South: .....................................................................................................47
Shailer Park:.............................................................................................................48
Slacks Creek:............................................................................................................48
Springwood:.............................................................................................................50
Tanah Merah: ...........................................................................................................50
Underwood:..............................................................................................................51
Waterford West:.......................................................................................................51
Woodridge:...............................................................................................................53

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER GENEALOGY

The Logan Central Library Local Studies Room has a wealth of resources to allow
anyone to commence their family history research. Your local  library will be able to
provide you with a complete listing of resources. Logan Central Library holds indexes
of Queensland deaths prior to 1954, marriages up to 1939 and births to 1919 for
Queensland. We also hold a comprehensive range of indexes for New  South Wales
and Victoria, with South Australian Births and Deaths available.

Most of this material is on microfiche, but recent compilations of births deaths and
marriages on a single index, are on CD-ROM. You may ask Library staff for initial
assistance and if you wish to utilise the CD-ROMs you will need to make a booking
on 3286 5430.

The Yugambeh Museum and Language Centre, corner of Martens Street and
Plantation Road, ((07) 3807 6155) offers a range of material relevant to individuals
and family groups from the Logan region, with many books for sale and a well
equipped reference library.

Those of you who wish to further research your Aboriginal or Islander ancestry may
need to seek specialist advice.

The State Library of Queensland, Indigenous Library Services holds a range of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander records and photographs. The Tindale
Collection, which relates to residents who were on several Queensland missions in
1938, is managed by Indigenous Library Services ((07) 3840 7911) The  Margaret
Lawrie Collection of Torres Strait Islander materials, includes research material,
photographs, maps, music and genealogies is also managed by Indigenous Library
Services.

The Queensland State Archives, situated in Compton Road, Runcorn, is the  official
repository of all Queensland Government records. The Department of Aboriginal
Affairs and its previous agencies generated the main records on family and
community links. Many recent records have access restrictions because of their
personal and sensitive nature. You may need to seek permission from the relevant
agency to access restricted records.

The Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy (DATSIP)
Community and Personal Histories Unit can assist you in gaining that access, in order
to research any person who ever came under specific legislation. This includes the

Aboriginal Protection and Restrictions of the Sale of Opium Act of 1897

or the

Aboriginal Protection and Preservation act, 1939

Your local library can provide you with a current brochure titled WHO’S YOUR
MOB? or you may phone the Personal Histories Unit for assistance on Freecall 1800
650 230 or on 3404 3622.

Captain Patrick Logan 1791-1830

Patrick Logan was born at East Renton in Berwickshire, Scotland in 1791, the
youngest son of Abraham Logan and his second wife, Janet Johnston. There is no
record of his exact birthdate. His baptismal entry, dated 15

November 1791, records

the baptism of twin children, Mary and Peter, a name which seems to have been
corrupted almost immediately to Patrick.

The Logans were an extremely ancient Scottish family, dating back to the days of
Robert the Bruce when two of Patrick Logan’s ancestors accompanied the Bruce’s
heart to the Holy Land. In accordance with the traditional career options of younger
sons of good families at this time (the Army, or the Church), the young Patrick Logan
purchased a commission as ensign in the 57

Foot in 1810. In view of his subsequent

reputation amongst the convicts at Moreton Bay this was perhaps an ominous choice;
the 57

had such an unenviable reputation for flogging its soldiers that it was

popularly known amongst the forces as the “Steelbacks”. At this time, the 57

was

fighting against Napoleon in the Peninsular Campaign and, in 1811, Logan was sent
to Spain as part of a relieving force. Acquitting himself well in some of the heaviest
fighting of the campaign, he was promoted to lieutenant in March 1813, and following
Napoleon’s defeat he served in Canada, in France with the Army of Occupation and in
Ireland, where he met and married Letitia O’Beirne, the daughter of a fellow officer.
About this time he purchased a captaincy, presumably with a legacy from his father’s
estate.

A year after Logan’s marriage in 1823 the 57

Regiment was transferred to New

South Wales, and in early 1825 Logan, his wife and their baby son Robert set sail for
Sydney on the convict transport

Hooghly

. After a year spent in garrison on their

arrival, they were posted to Moreton Bay penal settlement, where Logan assumed the
duties of Commandant in March 1826. The settlement had been established mostly of
re-convicted criminals from other parts of New South Wales. Conditions were harsh;
owing to limited resources and lack of skilled labour, there were no permanent
buildings, and neither of Logan’s predecessors as Commandant, Lieutenant Miller and
Captain Bishop, had proved satisfactory in what was admittedly an extremely difficult
posting. In his four years as Commandant, Logan was to change all this, and from a
struggling outpost, the future city of Brisbane grew into a viable settlement of more
than a thousand people. More than any other early Commandant of Moreton Bay,
Patrick Logan can be said to have laid the foundations of the future state of
Queensland.

A professional soldier, Logan was a man of action, and by the end of his first year of
office, work had commenced on a hospital, surgeon’s quarters, gaol and barracks for
the soldiers and convicts. These were the first permanent buildings to be erected in
Queensland, and two buildings from this period, the Commissariat Stores in George
Street, and the notorious Windmill of Wickham Terrace (both dating from the late
1820s) are still standing.

Farms were established at South Brisbane and Kangaroo Point and the first school,
opened shortly before his arrival, continued to grow under the auspices of Mrs Esther
Roberts. The township of Dunwich on Stradbroke Island was set up as a depot for
ships arriving from Sydney and a quarry and coal mine established at Limestone Hill,
the site of the future city of Ipswich.

As soon as he and his wife had settled into the routine of the settlement, Logan wasted
no time in setting forth on a formidable programme of exploration. It has been
suggested by various historians that Logan found the restrictive desk duties associated
with his position as Commandant irksome, and that his exploratory activities provided
a good excuse to escape from them. His first expedition, in August 1826 saw the
discovery of the Logan River (originally named the Darling as a compliment to the
Governor) and the re-discovery of the Southport Bar. In later expeditions he explored
the Bremer River as far as Ipswich and accompanied Allan Cunningham, the
Government Botanist on part of his journey to the gap which now bears his name. On
this occasion Logan climbed to the summit of Mt Barney, then Mt Lindesay. This was
then the most elevated point in Australia reached by a white man.

Nevertheless, despite his remarkable achievements as Moreton Bay’s first real
administrator, Patrick Logan is popularly remembered today as a “hard man”; a cruel
tyrant and persecutor of convicts, a merciless and unimaginative despot whose power
was wielded through the treadmill, the noose and the cat-o’nine-tails. That he had no
sympathy for the convicts he was responsible for is obvious from the horrific stories
which circulated about him even in his own lifetime, though his brutal behaviour
would seem to stem less from any inherent sadistic streak than from an unshakeable
belief in his own authority. An autocrat in every sense of the word, as far as Logan
was concerned, the convicts were less than human; they had been sent to Moreton Bay
to be punished, and idleness was not to be tolerated under any circumstances. In many
instances he meted out punishments which he was not legally entitled to impose,
lengthening the sentences of prisoners who had absconded by up to three years. This
behaviour drew only mild reproof from the authorities in Sydney. Other people
however, did not share Logan’s convictions, and at the time of his death he was
involved in a libel case with the editor of the

Monitor

, a liberal newspaper which had

published the “confessions” of a Moreton Bay convict named Thomas Matthew, and
which was threatening to prosecute him for murder.

Revisionist historians have tried to justify Logan’s worst excesses by concentrating on
the positive aspects of his administration, and by highlighting the immense difficulties
under which he laboured. There is certainly no denying that during his time as
Commandant the population exploded from about one hundred to over one thousand
convicts, and that this placed severe strains on the settlement’s extremely limited
resources.

Chronology of Logan district history

1826

- On August 21

1826, Captain Patrick Logan, Commandant of the

Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, explored the river which today bears his
name. At that time the Yugambeh people occupied the region. Logan
named the river the Darling River and noted that it was “navigable by the
largest class of Colonial vessels for eighty miles and running through the
finest tract of land I have seen in this or any other country.”

1843

- Cedar cutters were actively working the Logan region. Logs were rafted

downstream or hauled by bullock teams to rafting grounds where they
would be picked up by steamers and taken to sawmills:- Pettigrew’s in
Brisbane from 1855, Daniel’s in Cedar Creek from 1864, Lahey's in
Waterford from 1880, Burnett’s in Wellington Point from 1883.

1861

-

-

Land was surveyed b y Surveyor Warner and named Logan Reserve or
Logan Agricultural Reserve.
The American Civil war ultimately led to the establishment of a cotton
industry in the Logan area, as raw materials were no longer available
from America for the cotton gins of England.

1862

-

-

The Logan Reserve in its original sense meant about 500,000 acres
reserved for agricultural settlement in 1862 and comprised a large
settlement and population on the banks of the Logan River.
Waterman’s punt established at the end of Tygum Road, Waterford.

1863

-
-

-

-

Irish settlers arrived at Waterford.
Robert Towns imported kanaka labour for his plantation (Townsvale) at
Veresdale, initially growing cotton.
The Queensland Co-operative Cotton Growing and Manufacturing
Company was allocated 700 acres on the Logan River. Manchester
Cotton Company workers came to the Logan to work this plantation

1864

-
-

-

-
-
-

Flood: Loganlea farmer John Ferris drowns.
German migrants travelled along the river on the ‘Diamond’, originally
settling at Bethania and later elsewhere in the district.
A Post Office was established at Logan Reserve and mail was carried
by horseback between Brisbane and the Post Office once a week. The
contractor received £56 a year and the postmaster a salary of £12 per
annum.
By the end of the year, all the land along the river had been taken up.
Crops included cotton, potatoes, maize, oats and sugar cane.
Joseph Baker established a hotel on the site now occupied by the Glen
Hotel at Eight Mile Plains.

1865

The first bridge over the Brisbane River was opened and the Logan
River area became more accessible. Traffic began to head south
through John Slack’s property ‘Mungaree’. The road became known as
Slack’s track.

-
-
-

The Logan Reserve Catholic Church was built.
Severe drought led the local churches to hold a day of prayer for rain.
Logan River Ferry at Waterford gazetted, with Henry Eden ousting
William Stone as the official lessee.

1866

- Waterford township surveyed by William Fryar, town unnamed at that

time

1867

Flood rains caused an outbreak of disease in the cotton crops.

1868

- Joseph Baker ran the Eight Mile Plains Post Office from his hotel.

1869

-
-
-
-

The first school at Waterford was opened in Charles Wilson’s barn.
Lutheran Church established at Alberton.
Fryar and Strachan establish Loganholme sugar mill
Henry Jordan purchased Tygum Plantation

1870

-
-

Henry Jordan established sugar mill at Tygum
Alberton Ferry commenced

1871

-
-

-
-
-
-

A coach service from Brisbane to Nerang commenced.
Cobb & Co. Coaches made three trips per week and travelled through
Waterford on their way to Nerang.
The Logan River was surveyed as far upstream as Maclean.
Waterford Primary School opens
Logan Post office relocated to Ferry Hotel at Waterford
Christian and Wilhelmine Kruger built their home on the river at
Gramzow, which remains today on Skinners Road. (Gramzow was
renamed Carbrook in 1916.)

1872

-

-

-
-

-

Henry Jordan won a prize for his sugar at the Beenleigh Agricultural
Society Show. The sugar plantation at Tygum, Waterford, was the
largest in the area, employing twenty to thirty farmers.
Charles Kingston had worked on this property for about ten years, when
he moved and established his own property on a hill near Scrubby
Creek.
Browns Plains Hotel and mail service established by George Stretton.
Charles Wilson built Logan Sugar Factory at Carbrook (on the western
side of Skinner’s Reserve)
Bethania Lutheran community build a brick church to replace the original
timber structure

1873

-

-

-
-
-

John and Emily Mayes took up land adjoining the Kingstons. John built a
slab hut, which remains on the property today.
Slacks Creek Provisional School opened in the Wesleyan Church in
Centenary Road.
The Loganholme School opened.
Floods: Loganholme ferry was washed away.
Wilson’s sugar mill was in operation at Carbrook and run by J.J. Walker.

1874

-

-
-
-

Improvements to the navigability of the river were carried out including
the removal of an obstruction between the Basin (near Musch Road,
Maclean) and Drynan’s ferry at Logan Village.
Wharves built at Maclean (Logan River) and Beenleigh (Albert River).
A Timber reserve was declared in the Daisy Hill area.
William Underwood was running the Commercial Hotel from his land to
the north of the Kuraby turnoff on Logan Road.

1875

-

-

The Logan district had 3,969 horses, 40,864 horned cattle, 1,068 sheep
and 3,248 pigs in 1875.
Residents of Gramzow (Carbrook), Alberton and Mt Cotton applied to
the Department of Public Instruction for schools.

1876

-

-

-
-

-

‘Bailliere’s Queensland Gazetteer and Road Guide’ 1876, stated:
“

Logan Reserve is an agricultural district and comprises numerous farms

and plantations. Sugar is produced from cane grown by smaller farmers
and is manufactured on terms by the millowners… Farming in all its
branches is vigorously carried on - maize, potatoes, pumpkins, fruit and
vegetables; milk, butter, cheese, pigs, poultry, eggs, etc.”

In October the Logan Reserve Post Office was re-named Waterford Post
Office and a new Logan Reserve Post Office was opened.
Bridge was built over the river at Waterford.
The Loganholme Post Office was opened on October 25

with Mr. C.W.

Welsh as postmaster.
German communities at Mt Cotton, Carbrook and Redland Bay
combined to build a church on Wuduru Road and a cemetery was
established adjacent.

1877

-

-
-

Mr. Charles Kingston operated the first Post Office in the Scrubby Creek
area from his home.
The Gramzow Provisional School was opened on November 5

Schnieder’s store opened at Waterford.

1878

-
-

-
-

Mr. J. Markwell opened a receiving office for mail in Slacks Creek.
The Heck family established a sugar mill at Rocky Point. (Moved two
miles south from the original site in 1886.)
Mt Cotton mail came from Beenleigh via Alberton and Gramzow.
Browns Plains School established.

1880

-

-
-

Tingalpa Divisional Board was formed and included all of the current
Redland Shire and the Logan suburbs from Priestdale, Rochedale,
Slacks Creek, Daisy Hill, Loganholme, Carbrook, and across to Kingston
Road.
The Yeerongpilly Divisional Board was gazetted, and covered the
current western suburbs of Logan.
Severe frosts destroyed much of the sugar crops.

1884

-
-

Wharf was built at Waterford and other private wharves were erected.
Shed built at the Logan Village Wharf.

1885

-
-

-

-

-

-

-

Gold was discovered at Kingston.
The contract for the railway line to be extended from Yeerongpilly to
Loganlea was completed in March 1885.
The next section of the railway line crossed the Logan Rive r to
Beenleigh, and was officially opened on July 25

. The opening was

delayed by the late arrival of iron cylinders for the piers of the Logan
River Bridge. The bridge measured 442 feet long and was named
‘Overend’ after the contractor.
When the railwa y line was completed, mail was collected from individual
railway stations.
40 sugar mills were operating in the Logan region - Fryar and Strachans
being the largest at Loganholme.
The

Walrus

operated along local rivers producing copious quantities of

legal and illegal rum.
Sugar crop was again destroyed by flood. Farmers turned to other crops
such as potatoes, corn, and lucerne as well as dairying.

1886

- Small dredge worked the river from this time to keep it navigable.

1887

-
-
-

Flood; The Logan River was more than a mile wide in places.
Yatala Hotel was washed into a paddock at Ageston.
Loganlea railway bridge was washed away.

1889

- Flood

1890

-
-
-

-

-

Flood
Daisy Hill receiving office (forerunner of the post office) opened.
Mr. Charles Kingston built a new house using timber milled at
Schneider’s Sawmill at Waterford. The house became a landmark and
still exits today as Kingston House.
Mr. Kingston was granted a railway siding into his quarry, which was a
quarter of a mile on the Brisbane side of Kingston.
Kingston was officially named by the Surveyor-General after Mr. Charles
Kingston.

1893

-
-
-

Flood
The Greenbank Provisional School opened.
Creamery established at Waterford.

1894

- A stationmaster was appointed at Kingston Railway Station.

1895

- Park Ridge Provisional School opened.

1897

-

-

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer of Gramzow (Carbrook) purchased the first
separator in the district.
Logan Village bridge built

1898

-

-

Stradbroke Island broke in two at Jumpinpin with changes in the tides of
up to 2 metres. Changed water flows increased erosion in the region.
Six sugar mills operated in the region, mainly south of the river mouth.

1901

- St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Slacks Creek, was built in May.

1902

- Divisional Boards became known as Shire Councils.

1903

- Logan Village bridge washed away

1904

-
-

The first general store was established in Kingston by Mr. Eldridge.

1905

-

-

-

A sugar mill was erected in the Carbrook area by Messrs. Musch and
Appel.
A crocodile was shot in the Logan River. It was found floating much
later and pulled to shore on June 23

. One report stated that it

measured 12 feet 8 inches.
Waterford cattle dip established

1906

-

-

John and Mabel Cordingley took over Mr. Eldridge’s general store in
Kingston and his blacksmith forge, which operated alongside. They also
worked the mail run for Logan Reserve, Chamber’s Flat, Park Ridge and
Browns Plains.
The Southern Queensland Co-operative Dairy Company formed.

1907

-

-

The Kingston Butter Factory was built by Waugh and Josephson at a
cost of £3,600 and the manufacture of butter commenced on May 13

The Southern Queensland Co-operative Dairy Company operated the
Butter Factory.
Part of Yeerongpilly Shire added to Waterford Shire

1908

- Waterford Shire Council opens office in Waterford (previously met in

Beenleigh Shire Hall)

1909

- The Slacks Creek Provisional School became a State School.

1912

-
-

Kingston State Primary School was opened.
Mr. Dugald Graham requested the construction of private rail siding in
(what is now) Woodridge. as “Graham’s Siding” or “15 Miles Siding”.

1913

-

-

The disused Browns Plains School building was relocated to Rosia
Road, Park Ridge and opened as the new Park Ridge School. The old
school had been damaged by white ants, but was still used for public
meetings.
Graham’s siding established and a timber mill is established in Railway
Parade. Octavius Stubbs, who had purchased Mr. Graham’s land,
subdivided the estate which he named ‘Woodridge’. (This was not
registered as a placename until 1924.) The area had originally been a
timber reserve and timber was the most important industry in the district.
Mr. Stubbs advertised the subdivision and sale of his land (10 acres for
£170).

1916

- A railway siding was supplied for the Southern Queensland Co-operative

-

-

-

Dairy Company at the Kingston Butter Factory.
The name of Gramzow was changed to Carbrook on July 1

by the

postal authorities. During WWI the government changed many German
names in Queensland. The Stern Family who ran the Gramzow Post
Office had the position taken away from them, and it was allocated to a
family of British origins.
The first concrete bridge was built across the Logan River at Waterford
at a cost of £7,000. Its unusual design led to it being locally known as
the pig trough bridge.
Woodridge Progress Association established.

1917

-
-

The place name Woodridge is formally adopted and Progress Hall built.
A State Forest was declared at Daisy Hill.

1918

-

-

Kingston Hall was built. It measured 25 feet by 20 feet. Land for the hall
was donated by Messrs Thynne and Macartney.
Herman Lehman owned the only arrowroot mill in the Carbrook district.
It operated from 1918 until 1946.

1924

-

-

-

The Postmaster General’s Department advised the Department of Public
Lands on January 1

1924 that the name Woodridge, at first considered

only temporary, should remain.
The Woodridge Provisional School operated from the local public hall
from 1924 to 1932. The school opened with an enrolment of 21
children.
Kingston Piggery was established (in what is now Jacaranda Avenue).

1925

- The telephone service was available to Loganlea and Daisy Hill

residents.

1926

-

-

Buttermilk was piped to the piggery from the Butter Factory.
The first butchery in Kingston was opened by Mr. Dick Mathers.

1927

- Start of the formation and bitumening of the Pacific Highway.

1931

-
-

The Logan River Bridge at Loganholme was officially opened on July 1

The Rochedale State Primary School opened.

1932

-

-
-

-

Kingston Gold Mines Ltd. abandoned underground mining in favour of
an open-cut operation.
Major expansion of the Kingston Butter Factory.
A 614 acre property was purchased by Brigadier Sam Langford between
Underwood and Springwood Road (Rochedale South). He named his
property Springwood. This was later adopted as a suburb name,
although the suburb of Springwood was situated further south than
Langford’s property.
Woodridge State Primary School was opened by the Minister of Public
Instruction on April 2

1936

- The district was hit by a disastrous cyclone, which some called a

tornado, on February 21

1941

- The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) established Paxton Farm in

Dennis Road, Slacks Creek and set up a poultry business. They were
conscientious objectors to WWII and the name Paxton is a derivative of
the Latin word for peace.

1946

-

-

The first bakery was opened in Kingston by Phil Stevens, a veteran of
two World Wars.
The Beenleigh-Kingston Road was gazetted a Main Road.

1947

-

-

Flood washed away the concrete bridge over the Logan River at
Waterford, and residents had to pay 6d a ride to cross the river in a row
boat. A vehicular ferry was also established while a new bridge was
under construction.
Storm blew away the old Daisy Hill post office and telephone exchange
at Floate’s house.

1948

-

-

Sid Floate set up a store and non-official post office on the Pacific
Highway, Slacks Creek (now adjacent to the Watland Street overpass).
He later built a separate post office building.
Alberton Ferry closed

1949

-
-

Tamborine and Waterford Shires became part of Beaudesert Shire.
The Albert Shire Council was created from part of the old Tingalpa,
Beenleigh, Coomera and Nerang Shires.

1954

-
-

The Slacks Creek branch of the Q.C.W.A. formed on April 28

New bridge over the Logan River at Waterford was completed.

1955

- The Slacks Creek Progress Association had its inaugural meeting on

May 16

. The membership in July 1955 was 46.

1956

-
-

The Slacks Creek Progress Association hall opened.
In December the Slacks Creek State Primary School was burnt to the
ground by a disastrous fire during the night.

1958

-
-

Woodridge could boast of a post office, two grocers and a butcher.
The Southern Queensland Co-operative Dairy Company was taken over
by Peters.

1959

- Trinder family donated 230 acres of land to the Lutheran Church.

1963

-
-

A new railway station and passenger platform was built at Woodridge.
St. Declan’s Church at Daisy Hill was so named after a hermit who lived
near the Irish town of Waterford. This church had originally been re-
located at Waterford adjacent to the hotel in the early 1870s, having
originated in Logan Reserve. In 1949 it was relocated to Eight Mile
Plains and in 1963 was moved to Daisy Hill.

1965

- Brisbane Transportation Study recommended the construction of the

South-east Freeway.

1968

- New bridge over the river at Loganholme was built in conjunction with

the duplication of the Pacific Highway.

1969

-

-
-
-

The estate of Springwood was placed on the market in 1969. The
development of Springwood was a joint project of Intercapital
Investments Ltd. and Cambridge Credit.
Woodridge North State School opened.
St. Paul’s School Woodridge opened.
Trinder Park home for the aged opened.

1970

-

-

The first public library in Woodridge was in Railway Parade and opened
on April 20

In May, the Ambulance Sub-centre for the district was opened by Sir
Douglas Fraser.

1971

- The suburb of Berrinba was gazetted in Brisbane City.

1972

-
-
-

Woodridge State High School opened.
Woodridge State Special School opened.
Springwood was gazetted as a placename.

1973

-

-

The Kimberley Park Estate was planned and developed by Development
Underwriting Ltd.
The Woodridge Tavern was built by Castlemaine Perkins Ltd.

1974

-

-
-
-
-
-

Serious flood damage to the south-east corner of Queensland occurred
on January 26

1974.

Mabel Park State School opened.
Drive-In theatre opened on the corner of Logan Reserve and Beutel
Roads on December 16

Springwood Road State Primary School opened.
Springwood Arndale Shopping Centre opened in September.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church opened in Rochedale.

1975

-

-

-
-

Springwood Library was officially opened on Saturday November 8

, by

Chairman Muntz.
Woodridge Library shared its accommodation with the Albert Shire’s Sub
office in a new building on the corner of Wembley Road and Jacaranda
Avenue.
Harris Fields State Primary School opened.
Underwood was gazetted as a suburb straddling Brisbane City and
Albert Shire. It was named after William Underwood who ran the
Commercial Hotel from just north of the Kuraby turn off on Logan Road
from 1874. He later managed the Mt. Gravatt Hotel.

1976

-
-
-

Waterford West State Primary School opened.
Kingston State High School opened.
More serious flooding in the Logan River

1977

-
-
-
-

-

Berrinba East State Primary School opened.
Springwood Central Primary School opened.
Springwood State High School opened.
Slacks Creek Post Office opened in the Argonaut Shopping Centre in
Kingston Road.
Maternal, Child and Community Health Centre opened on August 29

on the corner of Ewing and Wembley Roads.

1978

-

-
-
-

Logan Shire was formed from the northern areas of Beaudesert and
Albert Shires. The Bill to initiate this process was proposed by Russ
Hinze on May 31

Springwood Ambulance Station opened in October.
St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church opened in Daisy Hill.
Marsden State Primary School opened.

1979

-
-

Rochedale South State Primary School opened.
Priestdale was registered as a placename. The name evolved from
Priest Gully, which appeared on the earliest surveys of the area in the
1860s.

1981

-

-

Logan Shire was declared a City on January 1

1981. The new

administrative centre of Logan City Council was officially opened on
February 21

Shailer Park State High School opened.

1982

- Shailer Park State Primary School opened.

1983

-
-
-
-

Browns Plains State Primary School opened.
Chatswood Hills State Primary School opened.
All production at the Kingston Butter Factory ceased from April 15

Rochedale State High School opened.

1984

- St. Matthews College in Bryants Road opened.

1986

-

-
-

Logan Central was gazetted as a suburb to mark the administrative
centre of the city.
Springwood Mall opened.
New concrete bridge built at Loganholme, old bridge decommissioned

1987

-
-
-

Canterbury College at Waterford opened.
Marsden State High School opened.
Hillcrest, Forestdale, Waterford West and Crestmead were gazetted as
suburbs.

1988

-
-

-

Floods
St. Francis College opened at Crestmead.
Logan TAFE opened at Meadowbrook.
Seventh Day Adventist Church opened at Springwood.

Cobb and Co.

Coach Routes in 19

Century - Logan

For almost the first ten years following settlement in the Logan Agricultural Reserve
in 1861, transport in and out of the Logan District was limited to three very primitive
options. A traveller either rode or drove his own horse, travelled by river, or walked.
Not until the 1870’s did the introduction of regular road connections to Brisbane
alleviate this isolation, and provide a reliable means of contact with the outside world.

The Origins of Cobb and Co.

The name Cobb and Co. has become so associated with the Australian myths that
many people today are surprised to discover that it was originally an American
venture, established by American citizens with Concord Coaches imported from the
United States. Begun by Freeman Cobb and J.M. Peck as a service to the Victorian
goldfields in 1854, Cobb and Co. was to become, over the next seventy years, the
largest coaching network of its kind anywhere in the world. At the height of its
powers in the 1870’s, Cobb and Co. operated services not only in Australia, but also
in New Zealand and even Japan, where a line between Yokohama and Tokyo was
established in November, 1869.

Cobb and Co. come to Logan

Information about Cobb and Co. routes in Logan is extremely contradictory. All that
can be stated with certainty is the fact that Logan was on at least two, possibly three
coach lines, and that the frequency of the services as well as the stops changed from
time to time in response to public needs. Even the exact date of the first service is
open to doubt. There is evidence of a coach service through Browns Plains as early as
1863, but Cobb and Co’s first official route in Queensland was not established until
1865 when a line started up between Brisbane and Ipswich. Initial services tended to
operate westward, and it was not until the 1870’s that services began operating to
Nerang, via Logan.

Part of this reluctance to establish a service must be attributed to the poor state of the
roads which were still little better than goat tracks. Logan Road itself, a former
aboriginal trail was known disparagingly as “Slack’s Track” (after William Slack of
Slacks Creek), and in 1865 a letter from the Engineer of Roads described it as “at
present almost impassable”. The earliest reference to a coach service in the area thus
dates only from 1870, when a ma il service between Brisbane and Pimpama began
operating on a twice weekly basis. Whether this coach was actually a Cobb and Co.
coach is debatable, since early records do not always distinguish between Cobb and
Co., and the various private carriers operating during this period. It is for this reason
that tracing early coach routes is today such a frustrating exercise.

The Nerang routes

The first definite reference to a Cobb and Co. route, as such, dates from January,
1871, when a weekly service commenced between Brisbane and Nerang. This coach
is known to have carried the mail and it would appear that the service which
commenced in 1875 and which is occasionally postulated as Logan’s first coach route
is a separate service entirely. The 1871 Nerang service ran through Eight Mile Plains,
Waterford (site of Logan’s first post office) where it crossed the river by ferry, down
Dairy Creek Road to Bahr’s Scrub (Logan Breakthrough), and onto the Albert River
by way of Windaroo Lane (Bannockburn). The coach then continued south to Nerang
Creek via Stanmore and Ormeau. Horses were changed at Eight Mile Plains, and at
Beenleigh, where the Beenleigh Hotel (corner of City Road and George Street) was
later to serve as a depot.

Demand for the service was such that within weeks of its establishment its frequency
was increased to three services a week. Later, it ran every day, and in 1875 a second
Nerang route seems to have commenced, running every three weeks via Loganholme.
Cobb and Co.’s official breakdown of the route was as follows:-

South Brisbane to -

Eight Mile Plains

8 miles

Breakfast at wayside inn.

Loganholme

10 miles Cross Logan River by ferry.

Beenleigh

2 miles

Pimpama

10 miles Breadsell’s Inn. (Pimpama was

then the centre of the arrowroot
growing industry).

Coomera

6 miles

Mrs Bozier’s house for
refreshments.
Cross Coomera River by ferry.
Hilly stretch ahead to Coombabah.

Coombabah

6 miles

Road to Southport branched here.
More hills to traverse on next
section.

Nerang

6 miles

Kennedy’s Commercial Hotel.

48 miles

The route terminated at Nerang. Passengers wishing to go to Southport travelled by
boat down the Nerang River until the service was extended to Southport in 1882.

The Inland routes

In addition to the Nerang service another Cobb and Co. route ran through Browns
Plains and Greenbank.

Bailliere’s Gazetteer and Road guide

, published in 1876

describes Browns Plains, which then had a total population of about thirty, as being
connected by weekly coach with Brisbane, Waterford and Beenleigh. Once again, it is
difficult to establish the exact routes which were taken, and it is possible that the latter
services at least were operated privately.

One very early coach route which is known to have passed through the Browns Plains
district was the Casino - Brisbane mail coach, which commenced operation in 1863.
This route many not have been one of Cobb and Co’s., since it pre-dates their arrival
in Queensland by some two years, and was abolished in 1872 when the Nerang
service had become established and began carrying the mail. The service, which was
jointly financed by the New South Wales and Queensland Governments, ran once a
week from Brisbane, through Coopers Plains, Browns Plains, Jimboomba,
Mundoolun, Nindooinbah, Beaudesert, Tamrookum and Telemon. The coach then
crossed the border and continued to the Casino Post Office.

Other coaches running from Brisbane to Beaudesert are known to have stopped to
change horses at George Scott’s Rose and Crown Hotel at Coopers Plains (now
Acacia Ridge), at the Greenbank Hotel (later burned down and replaced by the
Teviot) and at McGoldrick’s Union Hotel in Jimboomba. The Greenbank Hotel was
located in Meadows Road, and stabling facilities were provided by a dairy farm in the
adjacent lane. The first driver on this route appears to have been called Howard. He
was later succeeded by a Mr Markwell.

A Journey by coach

Road travel, whether by Cobb and Co. or one of the private carriers was always an
uncomfortable experience. The slung suspension of the coaches did little to alleviate
jolting caused by the unsealed, rutted tracks which sufficed for roads, whilst wet
weather turned the roads into impassable bogs. Transport could therefore be slow. In
1975, Julius Holland of Bundall wrote an acerbic letter to the Postmaster General in
Brisbane, remarking that “if the Coachman did not spend so much time on having his
dinner at Eight Mile Plains, we might have some chance of the mail arriving at
Nerang by 2 pm and being delivered on the same day.”

Perhaps the best description of a Cobb and Co. journey in Logan is provided by the
irate traveller who wrote to the

Logan Witness

in 1878:-

“Sir, I desire through your columns, to call the attention of the
proprietors and managers of the line of coaches running between
Brisbane and Beenleigh, to the disgraceful and dirty state of the coaches.

It is common practice for the grooms, and others in charge of the coaches
to put under the seats, dirty cans of grease, or tar, and even oil for use of
Cobb & Co., which filthy compound by the shaking of the coach gets
driven all about, whereby the dresses of the ladies travelling are totally
ruined, at a cost to these passengers of perhaps four of five pounds.

I have seen this happen many times these last few years. Another
nuisance is that instead of the space under the seats being clear for
passengers feet they are more often filled up with old harness, collars,
rusty chains, swingle trees, and other rubbish, which belonging to Cobb
& Co. should be put elsewhere so that passengers can travel with a little
more comfort than they have ever done on this run before.

Yours, etc. Traveller.”

GENEALOGY RESOURCES - LOCAL STUDIES

♦

Queensland

Births

1850-1919 (fiche)

Marriages

1839-1939 (fiche)

Deaths

1856-1959(fiche)

♦

Queensland Pioneer Index 1829-1889 (BDM) (CD-ROM)

♦

Queensland Federation Index 1890-1914 (BDM) (fiche)

♦

NSW

Births

1788-1918 (fiche & CD-ROM)

Marriages

1788-1945 (fiche & CD-ROM)

Deaths

1788-1945 (fiche & CD-ROM)

Census of New South Wales, November 1828

♦

Victoria

Births

1836-1920 (fiche & CD-ROM)

Marriages

1836-1942 (fiche & CD-ROM) 1921-1930 (fiche)

Deaths

1836-1980 (fiche & CD-ROM) 1981-1985 (CD-ROM)

Immigration

1852-1879 (CD-ROM)

Inquest index

1840 –1985 (CD-ROM)

Sands and Kenny’s Melbourne directories 1857-1861 (CD-ROM)

♦

Sth Australia Births

1842 – 1906 (CD-ROM)

Deaths

1842 – 1915 (CD-ROM)

Marriages

1842 – 1916 (CD-ROM)

♦

Tasmania

Pioneer Index

1803 - 1899 (CD-ROM)

♦

General

♦

Miscellaneous Records of the Moreton Bay region 1855-1859 (fiche)

♦

Queensland Cemetery Indexes-various (fiche)

♦

Local cemetery lists

♦

QFHS Lone Grave Collection (fiche)

♦

QFHS War and other Memorials (fiche)

♦

Index to K M Smith - Undertaker’s Records (fiche)

♦

Queensland Immigration Records 1848-1923 (fiche and film)

♦

Queensland Naturalisation Records 1851-1905 (film)

♦

Queensland Electoral Rolls 1860-1900 (fiche)

♦

Queensland Census 1861 – 1901(fiche)

♦

Queensland Post Office Directories 1868- 1949 (fiche)

♦

Emigrants from Hamburg Series (fiche)

♦

Shipping Arrivals and Departures Sydney 1788-1825

♦

Shipping Arrivals and Departures Sydney 1826-1840

♦

General Muster NSW and Norfolk Island 1811

♦

General Muster NSW 1814

♦

Census NSW 1828

♦

General Return of Convicts in NSW 1837

♦

First Fleet Families (fiche)

♦

Third Fleet Families of Australia

♦

Fourth Fleet Families of Australia

♦

Pioneer Register (volumes 4 and 5)

♦

Pioneer and Settler Register - South East Queensland

♦

Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record

♦

Geographical Dictionary of the Australian Colonies 1848 (fiche)

♦

Almanacs, gazetteers, directories - Queensland (fiche)

♦

Logan Witness [newspaper] 1879-1893 (film)

♦

Beaudesert Despatch/Times 1899 – 1967 (film)

♦

Albert/Logan and Albert News 1866 – 1995 (film)

♦

Photograph collection of local area and families

♦

Pamphlet file includes local family histories

WE ALSO CARRY A BROAD RANGE OF GENEALOGY GUIDES IN OUR LENDING
COLLECTION, INCLUDING VIDEOS.

Cotton Growing in the Logan District

During the period of the American Civil War (1861-65), production of cotton in the
plantations of the Southern United States was drastically reduced. Cotton prices
soared from 4 pence halfpenny per pound in 1860 to 26 pence per pound in 1863, and
as supplies of raw cotton to the great Lancashire mills in England were cut off, mill
owners and manufacturers began looking for different markets from which to buy.

One of the new markets which was investigated was Australia, in particular the
fledgeling colony of Queensland. Large sums of money were invested by interests in
Manchester and Liverpool and following the decision of the Australian Government
to guarantee the price of cotton and that of the Queensland Government to offer a
bonus of 10 pounds sterling per bale, the cultivation of cotton seemed set to become
Queensland’s new growth industry.

Cotton comes to Logan

Following the establishment of the Logan Agricultural Reserve in 1862, settlement in
the Logan area began to increase rapidly. In 1863, 700 acres were allocated to the
Queensland Co-operative Cotton Growing and Manufacturing Company on the river
at Loganholme. Formed by Charles Bushell and Benjamin Babbage, this company
was one of several which sprang up in the Logan and Albert districts during this
period, although large numbers of small selectors also began growing the new crop.

One of the immediate difficulties encountered by the cotton growers was the lack of
suitable labour in Queensland, an almost universal problem which had wide-ranging
economic repercussions on the colony generally. Few people in the colony had any
experience with cotton and high wages made intensive farming uneconomical. The
growers were obliged to turn to the various immigration societies operating in
Queensland at this time. The Queensland Agent-General, Henry Jordan of Waterford
(later the member for East Moreton and the Minister for Lands) went to the United
Kingdom to recruit skilled cotton-workers, and five hundred free passages were
offered to people from Manchester, Lancashire, Glasgow and Coventry. As many of
these people were unemployed and in great distress, the prospect of work and land in
the cotton co-operatives was very attractive. Following promotion of the Queensland
Co-operatives in

The Guardian

in 1862, 1000 families left England for Queensland,

arriving in 1863.

Their first experiences of life in the new colony proved to be something of a shock.
Although the immigrants claimed that “they were just as willing to grow cotton as to
manufacture it”, most of them were urban factory workers, with little practical
experience of farming.

Conditions were harsh, and the land which they were granted in the Logan district was
virgin bush. As late as 1865, an anxious letter from the Loganholme Cotton Co. (by
then bought out by the Albion Cotton Co.) enquires of the government what
proportion of the land was required to be put under cotton, as they wished to grow “a
crop of potatoes and maize so as to keep us in the event of the cotton not proving
sufficient”.

Before long many of these immigrants had given up, and were languishing in the
South Brisbane Depot “in a desponding and almost helpless condition”, little better
off than they had been in England. Eventually, some of them were offered jobs with
the Victoria Cotton Company in Pimpama (where the management stressed
“repressive measures will be adopted for the prevention of illicit trade in intoxicating
drinks, and to prevent Public Houses being erected on any portion of the property”).
Early Loganholme settlers who continued to work for the Cotton Co. included
Thomas Hanlon (later of Yatala), J. Hamer and George Palk (Slacks Creek).

The first South Pacific Island labour

The labour problems continued unalleviated and other interests preferred to find their
labour elsewhere. The possibility of introducing coloured labour to work in the cotton
fields had been broached as early as 1861, when William Hobbs wrote to the
Queensland Government, suggesting the importation of coolies from India. This
scheme foundered almost immediately, but the use of indentured foreign labour was
introduced two years later by Captain Robert Towns, founder of Townsville, a
director of the Bank of New South Wales and one of Sydney’s foremost mercantile
entrepreneurs.

Towns’ introduction of South Pacific Islanders, or kanakas, to work on his cotton
plantation at Logan was the first in Queensland, and it was to mark the beginning of
the state’s infamous “blackbirding” trade. Towns believed that coloured labour was
the only solution to the labour shortage, and that it was the only way to make the
cotton industry viable. In October 1862, a grant of 1280 acres on the Logan River
was made to Towns for the purposes of growing cotton and in May 1863 his
schooner, the Don Juan was duly sent to the South Pacific to “engage...fifty to 100
natives, all males”. The ship’s Captain, Greuber, and recruiter Ross Lewin returned in
August, with 67 Pacific Islanders. These men were immediately put to work in the
fields at “Townsvale”, Towns’ property on the Logan.

It is generally accepted that Towns’ first experiments with indentured labour did not
foreshadow the brutal excesses of the later “blackbirders”. His men were reasonably
well treated, and were paid regular wages (admittedly far below the rate of pay for
Europeans). At one stage in the late 1860’s there were as many as 250 Pacific
Islanders working on the Townsvale plantation, and despite attacks from humanitarian
societies the idea of indentured labour caught on quickly, spreading particularly
quickly in Far North Queensland. After the Townsvale property ceased growing
cotton in the 1870’s, Towns’ original kanakas were set to work growing sugar cane.

The Heyday of Cotton

The peak period of cotton production in Queensland was from 1868 to 1873. By this
stage, some of the early problems had been ameliorated, and the crop had established
itself in the area. In 1867, cotton from Robert Towns’ Townvale estate was to win the
gold medal at the Paris Exhibition, and a cotton mill (Fryer and Strachan’s) was
established at Loganholme to gin the cotton. (It was later to become a sugar mill).

In 1871, a correspondent in

The Queenslander

reported a yield of over 1000 lbs per

acre, and commented that despite a fall in prices “the cotton crop pays us better than
any other that we grow, excepting perhaps sugar.” Cotton prices, however, were
already beginning to decline. A report in

Slater’s Queensland Almanac

for the same

year notes that despite an exceptional season, cotton prices were lower than ever
before.

The End of the Cotton Boom

Despite the enthusiasm of the government, and the interest of entrepreneurs such as
Towns, the cultivation of cotton in Queensland was to prove short- lived. The reasons
for its demise are varied. Shortage of labour and difficulties with pests continued, and
the overly-damp Queensland climate did not prove to be as suitable as it was
originally hoped. According to a government report of 1904, this problem was
exacerbated by the cultivation of varieties unsuitable to the conditions, the need for
intensive labour and the seasonal nature of the crop led to disenchantment with
smaller producers.

By far the most important reasons however, were economic. Following the end of the
American Civil War the Southern cotton plantations began producing again, and
although it was some years before they recovered completely, the reappearance of
American cotton on world markets sounded the death knell for the Australian
experiments. As supplies increased, the price of cotton adjusted itself, and the
Australian Government was forced to abolish the guaranteed price in 1873. Cotton
production in Queensland - including Logan - began to decline, and despite efforts to
keep the industry afloat, it was soon abandoned altogether.

Cotton continued to have its champions, and as late as 1902 James Bottomley, the
socialist and philanthropist was agitating (unsuccessfully) for a government-
subsidised cotton industry in Queensland. Today, the only reminder of Queensland’s
cotton-growing era in Logan is Cotton Co. Road in Loganholme, one of the borders of
the original Cotton Co-operative.

Irish settlement in the Logan district in the 19

century

Following the “Great Hunger” of the 1840’s, severe famine continued to threaten
Ireland, and resulted in large numbers of people wanting to leave the country. The
favoured destination of these prospective emigrants was invariably the United States;
however, during the American Civil War this option was una vailable to them, and
Australia presented itself as an alternative. During the 1860’s, large numbers of Irish
immigrants settled on the Logan River and, with German and English settlers, were to
form the nucleus of the original Logan River community.

The Queensland Immigration Society

Queensland in the 1860’s was newly separated and underpopulated; threatened by
incipient depression and plagued by labour shortages. In an attempt to solve these
problems, a number of “Immigration Societies” were set up shortly after Separation.
According to Government legislation under Section 20 of the Alienation of Crown
Lands Act (1860), a land order to the value of eighteen pounds was payable to any
person who had paid his own passage to the colony, or failing that, to the individual or
body which had paid his passage for him. By taking advantage of this land order, the
Immigration Societies were able to fund large scale immigration to Queensland, and
whilst the first of these, the Cooksland Immigration Scheme quickly foundered, the
idea was quickly picked up by no less a person than Bishop James Quinn, the Roman
Catholic, Irish Nationalist Bishop of Brisbane. In 1861 Quinn set up what was
indubitably to become the most successful of all the immigration schemes of the
1860s - the Queensland Immigration Society.

Quinn’s motives in setting up the Society were twofold. First of all, it was a genuine
attempt to relieve the very real suffering which was being experienced in Ireland at
this time, to the benefit of the struggling colony of Queensland. However, it has also
been suggested, no doubt with an element of truth, that in doing so he was attempting
to bolster up numbers in his own ailing diocese. Government attempts to limit the
number of Irish immigrants in the past had taken their toll, and hardship in their native
country meant that large numbers of people were always anxious to emigrate. Irish
Catholics were generally too poor to pay their own passages to Australia. Quinn’s
scheme was not technically restricted to Catholics, but inevitably most of the people
who took advantage of it were. This fact (coupled with an unfortunate remark by the
Bishop to the effect that the colony might yet become “Quinn’s Land”) caused great
hostility amongst Protestants, who were afraid that the colony would be turned into
what John Dunmore Lang referred to as a “Province of Popery”. Sectarian opposition
was ultimately to lead to the demise of the Society in 1864.

Quinn began his campaign by circulating highly emotional literature designed to draw
attention to the plight of the Irish people:

“From Mizen Head to Benmore - from Eagle Island to the Skerries,
there is but only cry ringing through the land, and that a wall of fear, for
famine impends in Ireland....it is said nothing will be done to avert (it);
and as the world rolls through day and night, its hours, as they revolve,

crush out the remnants of the lives of our people. God pity them today,
for Government will not.”

One of the people who read these stirring releases was the erratic, peripatetic Father
Patrick Dunne. Dunne, who had served as Chaplain on emigrant ships in the past, and
whose career as a priest in Australia was notable for his violent arguments with the
Catholic Establishment in New South Wales, was at this stage living in County
Meath. Always enthusiastic, Dunne was fired by the possibilities offered by the
Society and, working in conjunction with Quinn’s brother Matthew he assembled a
shipload of emigrants, mostly evictees from Geashill, a local estate. People who
contributed money towards the scheme were promised a rather optimistic 100% profit
on their investment, and a rich Catholic lady obligingly donated funds towards
chartering a ship. This ship, the Erin- Go-Bragh, duly departed from Waterford,
sailing via Liverpool and Queenstown (listed in the archives as its port of origin) for
Moreton Bay. On board, under master Captain George Borlaise were 431 immigrants,
many of whom were to become pioneer settlers on the Logan River.

The Erin-Go-Bragh

The first journey of the Erin- Go-Bragh to Queensland was so plagued with difficulties
that, in retrospect, it seems miraculous it ever arrived at all. After spending two
weeks crossing from Ireland to Liverpool, the ship (which was nicknamed the Erin-
Go-Slow) took nearly twice as long as usual to make the journey to Australia. Then,
four days out of Queenstown, typhoid fever broke out, followed by scarlatina (a mild
form of scarlet fever). By the time the ship reached Queensland fifty- four of the
original four hundred and thirty one immigrants had died from one or the other of
these diseases. This, coupled with a shortage of water, attempts by frustrated
passengers to drill holes in the bottom of the ship, and leakage in the bilges
necessitating continuous pumping, made life on board extremely difficult, and there is
evidence of at least two occasions of brawling amongst the crew. In February of
1862, only one day out of Liverpool, Luke Molinari, a seaman, attacked the ship’s
first mate. Later, disobeying the lawful orders of the master of the ship, he obligingly
repeated the incident by attacking the second mate.

Due to the outbreak of typhoid, the Erin-Go-Bragh was quarantined on its arrival in
Queensland at St Helena, on the recommendation of the Government Health Officer.
The passengers were instructed to wash their underclothes, and it was further
suggested that they be put ashore to allow the ship to be fumigated, presumably with
lime. This was done, but a telegraph transmission from the Captain complains that
the disembarking passengers had to “wade to their knees through mud and water”, and
claimed that they would prefer to stay on board the ship with the typhoid.

Meanwhile, the ubiquitous Luke Molinari was causing further problems amongst the
crew, this time inciting three other sailors to desert with him. All three were caught,
and ended up in the Brisbane Water Police Court, where Molinari was fined 40/- in
lieu of two weeks gaol for the assault on the second mate, and four pounds for the
assault on the first mate earlier in the voyage.

Kingston Butter Factory

During the late 1880s, the Queensland Government was promoting dairying as a growth
industry. New technologies assisted in this process, including the introduction of ensilage for
fodder crops, which made the industry less susceptible to drought. The invention and
introduction of the cream separator at this time offered the possibility of turning surplus milk
into cream. The introduction of refrigerated storage and transport as well as a reliable rail
network all lent themselves to the viability of local dairy factories. The Government travelling
dairy came to Beenleigh in March 1889.

The Logan Farming and Industrial Association was instrumental in the eventual establishment
of a local co-operative dairy company. After numerous false starts, awaiting an indication of
good export prices, Secretary W G Winnett instigated the formation of a co-operative in 1905.
A public meeting was held in the Beenleigh Shire Hall on 12 April 1906 and 250 shares were
taken up and a board of directors was elected. The Kingston site was chosen, after much
deliberation, because of its close proximity to the railway line and fresh water was available
from Scrubby Creek. It was built by Waugh and Josephson for

3,600 ($7,200) and

production at the Southern Queensland Co-operative Dairy Company began in May 1907.

The original building was of timber and many extensions and additions were made to the
structure and the production machinery over the years. A manager’s cottage and worker’s
cottages were built adjacent to the factory. By 1930 weekly output was 40 to 50 tons of butter
and the factory had over 30 employees. At that time the Queensland Dairy Board informed
the board of the SQCDC that the old timber structure was inadequate and a new factory of
either brick or concrete should be constructed. This was constructed over the old timber
buildings during 1932.

Another industry which developed in conjunction with the Butter Factory was the Kingston
piggery which was established in 1926. Buttermilk was an unwanted by product of butter
production and up until that time, the buttermilk had been piped along the railway line and
into the river off the Loganlea Railway Bridge. The piggery was situated opposite the Butter
Factory along Jacaranda Avenue. Buttermilk was fed to the pigs and this industry continued
for over 30 years. In its heyday it produced over 5000 baconers per year.

The Kingston Butter Factory output declined during the 1950s as dairy farms were sold up for
urban subdivisions and less cream was available. Increasing population also meant a greater
demand for milk with little remaining for butter and other by-products. The factory was sold
to Peters Artic Delicacy Company in 1958 and butter and dried buttermilk continued to be
produced. In 1966 spray drier equipment was installed and in 1974 production of cottage and
baker’s cheese began. The industry continued to decline until there were only 33 farmers
supplying the factory. In 1983 production ceased and the factory lay idle and susceptible to
vandals.

In February 1987 the Logan City Council and the Logan City Australian Bicentennial
Community Committee began a redevelopment of the old factory. The exterior was kept
intact, and the interior was redesigned for use as a Community Arts Centre. The refitted
building now houses the Butterbox Theatre, a museum, an arts and crafts stall and a canteen.
Unfortunately little evidence remains of the butter making process.

The Butter Factory is home to the Logan City Historical Museum Society, which meets on the
2

Saturday of each month. The museum is open every day from 10.00 am - 4.30 pm.

Local Government in Logan

Local government in this region began with the passing of the Local Government Act
of 1864 when the state was divided into 18 regions of administration. This proved to
be inadequate in the sparsely populated rural areas. In 1879 the Divisional Board Act
was passed and the colony of Queensland was divided into 72 Divisions. The Logan
region was covered by a number of Divisions including Tingalpa and Yeerongpilly.
The Divisions were administered by voluntary Boards, which became Shire Councils
in 1902. In 1906 the western suburbs of what is now Logan, became part of the
Waterford Shire. In 1928 the Royal Commission of inquiry into local government
recommended a reduction in the number of Shire Councils. The Depression and
World War II delayed this action until 1949. At this time Albert Shire was formed by
incorporating parts of the old Waterford and Beenleigh Shires, as well as part of
Tingalpa which was split between Albert and Redland Shire. Most of Waterford was
incorporated into Beaudesert Shire.

During the 1960s rapid urban growth occurred in the northern areas of Albert and
Beaudesert areas just outside of the Brisbane City boundaries. At this time the
Queensland Housing Commission purchased large tracts of land in Kingston and
Woodridge to build public housing. A further factor in the growth in Albert Shire was
the planned South East Freeway which would provide easy access to both Brisbane
and the Gold Coast. Initial plans forecast the completion of the Freeway to
Springwood by 1970. In fact it was not completed until 1985. Development boomed
in these areas because the largely rural local government authorities did not have
stringent guidelines fo r subdivision and provision of infrastructure by developers.
This meant that the purchase price of the land was significantly cheaper than in
Brisbane City. Residents who moved to these areas then felt distanced from their seats
of local government located in Nerang and Beaudesert and lobbied for better
representation.

The Department of Local Government planned the formation of the new Logan Shire
which included the northern suburbs of both Albert and Beaudesert Shires. At the
time there were about 69,000 people living to the north of the Logan River. On 31
May 1978 Local Government Minister Russ Hinze introduced the Local Government
(Adjustment of Boundaries) Bill which was officially approved on 8 June 1978.
Elections were held with the general local government election in March 1979 and
most of the elected representatives had no previous local government experience.

The first statutory meeting was held on 17 April 1979. The Logan Shire Council set
about raising finance, employing staff, securing temporary premises, planning for
water supply and sewerage and general administrative procedures leading up to the
new financial year when Albert and Beaudesert would relinquish their caretaker roles
in the Logan Shire. Temporary premises were secured in the Curry and Mooney
building in Gunn Street Underwood and the Albert Shire sub-office in Wembley
Road.

The fledgling council called for expressions of interest from local banks in providing
finance and the Bank of New South Wales (Westpac) was prepared to offer $1million
over three years. On 15 May 1979 the council resolved to borrow this money.

A firm of management consultants was appointed to oversee the recruitment of senior
managers. Staff from Albert and Beaudesert Shires were to be given precedence in
recruitment of general staff.

The selection of an appropriate site for the administration centre was a priority,
although the choice of sites was limited to council land inherited from either Albert or
Beaudesert. Architect David Phillips investigated the  available sites and concluded
that the Wembley Road location was the most suitable, although some councillors
preferred a site in Bega Road.

In August 1979, architects Ainsley, Bell and Murchison were appointed to design the
new administration centre and the contract for construction was signed on 16 April
1980. Builders F C Upton and Sons constructed the building for a contract price of
$1.1 million. The Governor of Queensland Sir James Ramsay opened the Logan City
Council Administration Centre on 21 Feb 1981. Additions to the building were
completed in 1984 with further major extensions opened in November 1993.

Logan was declared a city on 1 January 1981, just prior to the opening of the
Administration Centre. City status was sought in order to develop a sense of identity
for the region. It would define Logan as a modern city looking to the future and
hopefully attract business and industry to the area to secure its economic viability.
Logan was already the fifth most populous local authority in Queensland.

Logan City Council survived initial teething problems and developed wide ranging
policies and procedures aimed at ensuring efficient and accountable local government
to its ratepayers. Currently the Council administration is divided into six departments,
which oversee Council operations. These departments are overseen by a relevant
committee on which elected members are required to sit. All matters of importance
are brought before their relevant committee for discussion, and ultimately before full
Council for final decisions.

Committee and full council meetings are held each fortnight. All meetings are open to
the public. Full Council meetings commence at 9.30am in the Council Chambers on
the first and third Tuesday of each month. Committees include:

Finance and Corporate Services

- takes care of all Council’s administrative,

financial and budgeting issues;

Community Services

– provides parks, libraries, community infrastructure,

community development, social co-ordination and recreation facilities;

City Works

– looks after engineering works such as road design and maintenance and

plant maintenance;

Development, Health and Environment

– involved in town planning, development

services, environmental issues and environmental health issues such as animal control
and immunisation;

City Governance and Policy Co-ordination

– deals with all matters relating to

democratic representation, strategic planning, international relations, city image and
public relations.

Logan Enterprises –

a corporate organisation looking after Development, Waste

Services and Water

Timeline

1879

Local government in the Logan region is administered by the Tingalpa and
Yeerongpilly Divisional Boards.

1902

Divisional Boards became Shire Councils

1906 Waterford Shire took over the current western suburbs of Logan
1928

Royal Commission of inquiry into local government recommended a reduction
of the numbers of local councils in Queensland

1949

Albert Shire is formed by incorporating parts of Beenleigh, Waterford and
Tingalpa Shires. Much of Waterford was incorporated into Beaudesert Shire.
Most of Tingalpa was incorporated into the new Redland Shire.

1960s Queensland Housing Commission began purchasing land in Woodridge and

Kingston to build public housing.

1965

Brisbane Transportation Study released, which recommended the construction
of the South East Freeway.

1968

Springwood planned as a satellite development at the end of the Freeway,
which was intended to be completed by 1970. Extensive urban development
occurred along the Freeway path and the Pacific Highway.

1978

Local Government Minister Russell Hinze introduced the Local Government
(Adjustment of Boundaries) Bill on June 8 in order to form the Logan Shire.
This was required because of the extent of urban development in the northern
parts of the Albert and Beaudesert Shires.

1979

Local government elections were held in March and a council of mostly
inexperienced people was elected. On 17 April the first meeting was held and
on 15 May they resolved to borrow $1million to finance the new council’s
activities including the construction of an Administration Centre. In August
the architecture firm of Ainsley, Bell and Murchison were contracted to design
the new Administration Centre, to be located on Wembley Road adjacent to
the old Albert Shire Sub-office.

1980

Construction began on the Administration Centre. Builders F C Upton and Co
signed the contract for $1.1 million on 16 April.

1981

Logan City declared on 1 January. Administration Centre opened 21 February.

1982

Glen Shailer appointed Mayor of Logan City after the councillors failed to
make a decision on the matter.

1984

Extensions to the Administration Centre.

1993 Further extensions to the Administration Centre.

EIGHT MILE PLAINS

There is a paradox about Eight Mile Plains - the suburb’s main housing area is twelve
miles by road from the city. Cobb & Co. coaches used to rumble through the district
on their way to Southport. The coaches stopped at Bakers Hotel near Bulimba Creek
to change horses. A check shows that where the Pacific Highway crosses Bulimba
Creek, is eight miles as the crow flies from the GPO. The hotel is thought to have
been in operation from as early as 1864 and was one of the major ‘watering holes’ for
travellers south from Brisbane.

A post office opened in Baker’s Hotel in January 1868. The hotel changed hands
numerous times following Baker’s sale of the site in 1869. William Underwood ran
another hotel from his property near the corner of Beenleigh Road and Logan Road.
The establishment was called the Commercial Hotel. Underwood left the hotel to take
up the Mount Gravatt Hotel around 1878. It was then run by the Holcrofts. Holcroft
shot himself in 1880 and his wife Catherine then applied for the licence. It would
appear she was unsuccessful and William Tucker obtained a licence in 1881 and it
then returned to Underwood in 1882. The Eight Mile Plains Hotel fell into disrepair
and was demolished in the late 1880s. Its demise probably came about following the
destructive hail storm and tornado of December 1885, which apparently destroyed the
post office. The Commercial Hotel burnt down in 1895 and was not replaced. The
Eight Mile Plains Hotel was rebuilt in 1898 and remains operational today as the Glen
Hotel.

The first school in Eight Mile Plains was opened in 1869. It was a bark wall and bark
roof building in a paddock. Later a 24ft x 14ft x 10ft school was built on two acres of
land.

The early pupils had to bring axes to school to help clear the land. The school
mistress, Miss Gardiner, was paid 100 pounds a year in 1881. Miss Gardiner boarded
at the Glen Hotel. However, a new licensee at the Glen allowed such riotous
behaviour that Miss Gardiner was forced to leave there and so the school on 19
August 1883. Ten years later the education department decided to build a new school.
The old school was converted into a teacher’s residence.

A fire broke out in the teacher’s residence in 1895. There was little damage but the
house was in a bad state of repair and the headmaster preferred to board at the Glen
Hotel. In 1932 the school house was declared unfit for human habitation and was
removed. A new school was built at the present site in 1958.

When Charles Baker died in October 1890, his obituary noted that he was a respected
member of the local community who had lived there for over 30 years. He would not
give up his bark hut and ran bullock teams without the benefit of using course
language. This was considered unusual! Charles Baker was buried on his own
property at a site already occupied by many other Eight Mile Plains pioneers. The site
is now occupied by the RACQ and a memorial cairn has been erected on the burial
site.

requesting a provisional school, they described themselves as mostly Yorkshiremen who had
taken up land together, built comfortable cottages, fenced paddocks and gardens and had
bought considerable areas of land under cultivation. They were prosperous enough to build
the school with no government assistance. Timber getting and farming were the main
industries during the 1890s with Mr Cordingley operating the blacksmith shop. The school
was situated between Rosia Road and Hillcrest Road. The building was completed in April
1895. Unfortunately they omitted ant caps from the stumps and the white ants took over.
This school was abandoned and a new site was chosen closer to Browns Plains. The disused
Browns Plains provisional school was moved in 1913 to the new site, which the school
occupies today.

Boronia Heights was gazetted as a suburb in October 1991 and was named after the first
residential housing estate in the area.

Browns Plains:

Browns Plains is on the Mount Lindesay Highway between Calamvale and Park Ridge. The
Cobb and Co coach en route to Casino passed through Browns Plains from the mid 1860s. 30
people lived in the area in 1876 and a hotel was run by Strettons. The school was opened in
1878. The first teacher Catherine Haynes was able to rent a two roomed slab hut with earth
floor and fireplace for 3/- a week. Some of the early settlers were timber getters who logged
the Logan Ridges (Park Ridge) from the 1870s. Once the timber was felled, farmers moved
to the region and agricultural and pastoral industries predominated.

By the turn of the century, the area boasted a blacksmith, basket maker, carpenter and
storekeeper. During the 1910s industries included dairying, farming and poultry farming.
Timber getting continued until the 1950s and then in the 1960s, sandmining was carried out
along Scrubby Creek, creating a series of artificial waterholes. A new school was built in
1900, but was closed down in 1902 because of low attendance. This was attributed to the
terrible drought which had forced many farmers off the land. The school building was then
used by timber getters and teamsters who needed a place to sleep as they travelled through the
area. In 1913 the school building was moved to Park Ridge to replace the old school there,
which had been abandoned due to white ant damage.

During the early 1970s developers began subdividing old farming estates into residential
allotments, the first of which was Ranchwood Estate, behind the Browns Plains Hotel.
Initially these were sold to New Guinea investors, but by the late 70s more subdivisions were
being bought by owner occupiers. Browns Plains is now one of the fastest growing areas in
Logan which had a population of over 25,000 in 1997. It has now been further divided into
other suburbs such as Regents Park, Hillcrest and Heritage Park which were originally known
as Browns Plains.

Carbrook:

Carbrook lies between the Logan River and the southern border of the Redland Shire and is
east of Mt Cotton Road. German immigrants who had previously lived in Bethania from
1864, moved here. Christina Kruger was the first to settle the area in 1867, closely followed
by Herman Meissner, Wilhelm Collin, Carl Haberman, August Fischer and others. They
named the area Gramzow after a village in their homeland, Prussia. Many other German
families settled in nearby Mt Cotton and Redland Bay.

The local residents banded together to fund a church, which was built by Mt Cotton resident
August Von Senden in 1876. The church was brick and timber construction and was situated
on the corner of Wuduru and Mt Cotton Roads, which is now part of the suburb of Cornubia.

The winding road opposite bought Redland Bay residents to the church and is known as
German Church Road. A cemetery on the site is the only remaining evidence of this
important community centre.

Lessons were held in the church for local children until the school was established in
November 1877. Again the facility was shared with neighbouring district of Mt Cotton.

Cotton growing was the first industry in the area and this was followed by sugar. A sugar
mill was built on the western side of Skinners Reserve in 1872. It was known as the Logan
Sugar Factory and was owned by Waterford resident, Charles Wilson. In 1884 the mill was
sold to a consortium of local German farmers who ran it until 1887, when it was offered for
sale. River transport was important and a wharf reserve was gazetted on the river on an
extension of Mt Cotton Road in 1887. The wharf had existed unofficially since the
establishment of the Logan Sugar Factory.

The 1887 flood caused massive damage to riverfront properties, including the destruction of
cane crops. The Alberton Ferry, which had been washed away in the floods was relocated
here in 1889 for a short time.

A new sugar mill owned by Musch and Appel operated at Gramzow from 1905 until 1926.
During World War I the name of the area was changed to Carbrook, due to anti German
sentiment in Queensland generally. The Gramzow Post Office was taken away from August
Stern, renamed and given to another resident of non-German descent.

Farm produce in the region included the growing and milling of arrowroot, bananas,
pineapples, grapes, citrus and tobacco. Other industries include August and then Rudolph
Bahr’s blacksmith shop from about 1910 until the early 1930s. Musch and Appels’ sugar mill
was converted to a sawmill in the mid 1930s and operated until 1941. Arrowroot was also
grown in the region with Herman Lehmann operating an arrowroot mill from 1918. He
turned to timber getting during the 1930s as did many others in the district.

Carbrook still maintains its rural atmosphere and much of the area is rural residential land.
Areas for recreation include the Carbrook Golf Course and the Aquatic Gardens Water Ski
Centre. Sand and gravel mining along the river is a major industry, although large areas of
wetlands in the area have been reserved as conservation parks. A new private school, Calvary
Christian College operates not far from the Carbrook Primary School. Kimberley College is
also establishing a campus in Stern Road. The original Carbrook school is now owned by the
Logan City Council and has been heritage listed.

Cornubia:

This is a relatively new area of urban subdivision adjacent to Carbrook in the watershed of
California Creek and the Logan River. Much of the land was originally owned by the Wagner
family through to the 1890s. William Tabb bought this property in about 1894 and continued
to run it as a dairy farm for about 10 years. The homestead was built around 1905. During the
1920s under the ownership of the Taylor family the property was named Cornubia Park. It
was located in the area between the current western boundary of the suburb and California
Creek Road and West Mt Cotton Road and totalled 16,000 acres. Timber getting, dairying,
and the growing of corn oats and barley were the main activities carried on here.

In September 1934 the land was purchased by the Jessens who changed the name of the
property to Cornubia after members of the public often arrived for picnics, believing that
Cornubia Park was for general usage. The Jessens continued timber getting and the logs were
used for house stumps, power and telephone poles, mine props, railway sleepers and fencing.

Dairying was also important and the Jessens grew fodder crops for their cows. Cream was
sent to the Kingston Butter Factory. The land was sold to Alfred Grant in 1956 and was
subdiv ided into smaller lots. Part of this old property has been jointly purchased by Logan
City Council and the Queensland Government because of its environmental significance. A
nature reserve has been designated in California Creek Road along the creek.

Facilities in Cornubia include the Mt Cotton Driver Training Centre, the California Creek
Golf Course, Cornubia Park Sports Centre, St Matthew’s Catholic Primary School and
Chisholm Catholic College. The first Lutheran Church of the area was located next to the
cemetery on the corner of Wuduru and Mt Cotton Roads. It was built in 1876 (see Carbrook).

Crestmead:

Crestmead housing estate was originally part of Marsden and was subdivided in the mid
1980s. Council approved the naming of the new suburb in May 1986 and it was gazetted in
June 1987.

Daisy Hill:

Daisy Hill lies to the north of the South East Freeway where urban subdivisions nestle into the
hills of the Daisy Hill State Forest. The earliest European settlers in the area were the Dennis
Family. James and Mary Anne (nee Markwell) Dennis selected 60 acres in 1868 and by
1882, had over 800 acres. The property now known as Daisy Hill, was part of Dennis’ Oakey
Mountain estate. This was later farmed by James’ grandson, Alf Shailer. It is thought that the
daughters of the Dennis family named the area because of the daisies that grew on the hill.

Other important early settlers were the Usher family who owned the land in the vicinity of
Usher Park which was dedicated in 1977. The Ushers first settled in the area in the mid 1880s
and called their property Norwich Vineyard. They grew grapes and Thomas Usher produced
wine for sale. He also kept bees and grew many varieties of fruit. The Winnett family came
to Australia on the same ship as the Ushers and moved to Slacks Creek a few years later.
Elizabeth Winnett was teaching at the Slacks Creek School from the late 1890s through till
about 1912. George Winnett was secretary at the Kingston Butter Factory from 1920 until the
late 1930s. During the 1920s quite a little community had developed in Daisy Hill with Tom
Harris’ butchery, Fred Mollinhauer’s blacksmith shop, William Howcroft the plumber and
Watts timber hauling business supported mostly by farmers and fruit growers. By 1925 Syd
Floate had taken over the butchery and his wife was the post mistress. Many more timber
getters had moved to the district in the late 1920s and early 30s including Charles Ford, Alex
Mullins and Alf Harrison. By 1940 Syd Floate was operating a carrying business and Mr
Holzheimer had opened up a garage.

The Daisy Hill State Forest was originally gazetted as a timber reserve in 1874 and in 1917
was declared a State Forest. During this time the forest overseer managed the forest so that
logging caused minimal damage to surrounding timber. Many ironbarks were felled to
provide electric light poles. Other varieties include red ironbark, grey ironbark, white
stringybark, tallow-wood, red mahogany, swamp mahogany, spotted gum, brush box, and
grey gum. The forest was also used for honey production, gold mining and grazing. The
goldmine was started in 1934 with a shaft of 425 feet sunk along the southern boundary of the
forest. In 1986 it was declared the first State Forest Park in Queensland.

Forestdale:

Forestdale is a recent rural residential development to the west of Browns Plains along
Johnson Road and to the north of the Greenbank Military Camp. The name was given by the

developers of the estate and the Post Office adopted Forestdale as a mailing address in 1981.
Council approved the name change in May 1986 and it was gazetted as a place name in June
1987.

Greenbank:

Greenbank lies to the west of the Mt Lindesay Highway near the Park Ridge High School,
where there is a rural residential estate. The remainder of the area with the Logan City
boundaries is taken up with the Greenbank Military Reserve. The boundary between Logan
and Beaudesert runs along Goodna-Oxley Creek Road and the Old Greenbank Road. The
remainder of the suburb of Greenbank is in Beaudesert Shire.

Dairying, farming and timber getting were the main industries in the region from the 1880s.
At that time a hotel existed on the corner of Teviot Road and Pub Lane and was used as a
changing station for the Cobb and Co Coaches en route to Beaudesert via the Old Paradise
Road between Acacia Ridge and Jimboomba. The first Post Office was located in the
triangular lot between New Beith Road and Old Greenbank Road. The hotel was named the
Teviot in the early 1900s, but its licence was allowed to lapse following the withdrawal of the
coach service in 1924.

In the 1890s the old Greenbank Station was being subdivided into farming estates and the
locals lobbied for a school. In 1892 William Slack agreed to lease land for a school for 25
years at a cost of 1/- per annum. Unfortunately for the school committee, as soon as they
called for tenders for the construction of the school in mid 1892, the local sawmill owner
immediately raised the price of timber. They then had to donate their own labour for the
construction to proceed. The school was completed in November 1892.

After World War II, land at Greenbank was resumed for army training purposes. It was used
for National Service training during the early 1950s, for school cadet camps and for Citizens
Military Forces (CMF) Training.

Heritage Park:

Heritage Park is a recent subdivision to the south east of Scrubby Creek near Browns Plains
and was originally part of the suburb of Browns Plains. The developers of the estate
originally called it Heritage Woods and requested the name be officially adopted in 1985.
During 1988 the developers changed the name to Heritage Park and this was the name
ultimately gazetted in October 1991.

Hillcrest:

Hillcrest lies to the west of Browns Plains and was originally part of that suburb. It is
bounded by Johnson Road, Mt Lindesay Highway, the interstate railway and Coronation Road
to the south. It was gazetted as a place name in June 1987.

Kingston:

The first land owner in Kingston was James Trihey who selected land on what is now the
Kingston Railway Station and Butter Factory site in 1868. Charles and Harriet Kingston
moved to the area around 1872 after living at

Tygum

for about ten years where Charles had

worked as an engineer at Henry Jordan’s sugar mill. The Kingstons built a slab house called

Oakwood

on the hill which now overlooks Jacaranda Avenue. The first Post Office operated

from this house from 1877 until the railway went through in 1885.

John and Emily Mayes selected land in 1873 immediately to the north of Kingston’s land.
John Mayes built a slab hut which remains today in the grounds of the second home of the
Mayes family,

Pleasant Place,

also known as Mayes Cottage.

Pleasant Place

was built in

1887. Charles Kingston also built a new house in 1890 and it stands today in Collin Court, on
the hill overlooking the railway station. Timber for both houses was milled at Schneider’s
mill at Waterford.

Timber getting was an important industry with the area to the north of Mayes’ selection (north
of Wembley Road) being designated a timber reserve initially. Once the land was cleared the
Kingstons and the Mayes families involved themselves in farming, with the Kingstons
specialising in grapes and wine, while the Mayes focussed on fruit crops, particularly
mangoes.

The area was named Kingston after the railway went through and this was formalised by the
Surveyor General in 1890. From the 1890s, Charles Kingston ran a metal and gravel quarry
from land to the south of his original selection. The first store in the area was run by Mr
Elridge from 1904. It was taken over by John and Mabel Cordingley in 1906. John
Cordingley also operated a blacksmith forge alongside the shop.

Dairying grew in importance in the area from the 1890s and in 1906 a meeting was held in
Beenleigh to form a co-operative butter factory locally. The Southern Queensland Co-
operative Dairy Company opened its factory in Kingston in June 1907. A piggery was
established nearby in 1926 and pigs were fed on the buttermilk from the factory. The Butter
Factory was enlarged in 1932 and operated successfully until after the war, when the dairying
industry was being rationalised by the government. Peters bought the factory in 1958 and it
ceased production in 1983. It now operates as a community arts centre and houses a theatre,
arts and crafts stall and museum.

The first community centre in Kingston was the School of Arts Hall which was built in 1918
and extended in 1926. The hall was used for dances, pictures and meetings of local, social
and service groups.

The other major industrial activity of the area was the Kingston gold mine at Mt Taylor.
Although gold was discovered in 1885, a geological survey was not undertaken until 1913
and underground mining began. In 1932, the Kingston Gold Mining Company began an open
cut operation and mining continued until 1954. The area became an unofficial waste dump. It
was eventually backfilled and subdivided into a housing estate in the late 1960s. The reaction
between the cyanide which remained from the goldmining days and the unidentified materials
dumped in the old shafts formed toxic sludge which oozed from the ground during the 1980s.
Eventually the state government resumed 46 properties and rehabilitated the area in the late
1980s, which is now open space.

Logan Central:

Logan Central was gazetted as a place name in August 1986 and marked the administrative
Centre of Logan City. It encompasses the Council Administration Centre and Library, the
Logan Gardens, Logan Central Community Centre and the Logan Art Gallery. The
boundaries have recently been extended to Defiance Road and Albert Street to the north,
along Kingston Road to the east, which includes the business and shopping precinct along
Wembley Road. The boundary then runs back along Ellen Street to Mayes Avenue, then
south along the railway line to the bowling club on Jacaranda Avenue and along Ashton
Street. The western boundary is formed by Bardon Road and the western side of the
Woodridge High School grounds.

Logan Reserve:

This area had its origins in the Logan Agricultural Reserve which was proclaimed in 1862 in
order to open up land to new free settlers in the colony of Queensland. The reserve which
comprised 500,000 acres was on both sides of the Logan River and a punt (ferry) was used to
cross the river to Waterford. Cotton was the first crop grown commercially in the region. The
1868 post office directories list about 180 families living in the reserve lands which included
the areas of Pimpama, Bethania, Waterford, Greenbank, Loganholme. These families quickly
settled and began the hard work of clearing the land, establishing houses and planting crops.

The first public building was a small bark church/school erected in 1864-5 on a one acre
allotment subdivided from Portion 44, which had been selected by John Gavan. A graveyard
was established in the road reserve, which gave access to the church. This initial building did
not last long as the slabs deteriorated quickly, and a new structure was built further north on
Deeran and Colgan’s land in 1870. Catholic archives suggest it was on the south west corner
of Portion 40, although the school files for the Logan Reserve and the Waterford schools
indicate Bishops Dunne’s school in Portion 42.

The first Post Office in the Logan Agricultural Reserve was located on John Beetham’s
property (Portion 16) from 1 April 1864. In 1867 there was local agitation to move the post
office to the Waterford township, and criticism was directed via the press at influential
individuals trying to make commercial gain  by the relocation. The critic suggested that
Waterford comprised one grog shanty. By March 1871 the post office was transferred to the
grog shanty run by William Huston. He occupied Eden’s old hotel on the eastern corner of
Loganlea Road. In August that year the post office was transferred to the Morning Star Hotel,
on the western corner of Loganlea Road, which was operated by Richard Leo. It remained at
the hotel until after the Waterford Bridge was completed in August 1876. It was then
transferred across the river to Schneider’s Store in April 1877.

Some of the Logan Reserve children attended the Waterford school, once it opened in 1871.
There appears to be some religious interference, with representatives of the Catholic Church
urging parents to send the ir children to the Logan Reserve school in 1872, at that time run by
John Beetham. It had originally been established as a Catholic School.

The Logan Reserve church/school was apparently dismantled and relocated in the mid 1870s
to a site adjacent to Leo’s Morning Star Hotel in Waterford West. The Bailliere’s Gazetteer of
1876 noted a hardwood chapel adjacent to the post office, which Leo ran from the hotel. A
graveyard was established adjacent to this church. The earliest grave on this site appears to be
that of Richard Leo junior, who died in 1874 only seven days old. The land was not formally
donated to the church until December 1892. It is possible that the church was externally clad
when it was moved to Waterford West, as Schnieder’s mill at Waterford  apparently supplied
timber to the church. The original building was a single skin structure. The church was
variously known as Church of the Assumption, St Brigids, and later St Declans, when it was
moved again to Eight Mile Plains in 1949.

While the church remained adjacent to the Morning Star until 1949, the school had a
chequered history during the following few years. Around 1888 it was relocated to a house
located in Portion 46 adjacent to the Lutheran Cemetery. The German population also utilised
the structure, as a German School on Saturday and Lutheran Church on Sunday.

The new Bethel Church was built in 1897. The cemetery evolved alongside the church. The
tornado of February 1936 destroyed the church, but locals soon rebuilt it and it remained on
the site until 1972, when it was demolished. Meanwhile the school remained on Portion 46
adjacent to the cemetery, until 1914 when it was moved to it current site on the opposite
corner.

Loganholme:

Loganholme evolved as a placename from the ferryman Holmes who operated the Logan
River ferry here in 1867-8.

The region was originally part of three large estates established under the cotton and coffee
and sugar regulations. Thomas Oldham and the Queensland Co-operative Cotton Growing
and Manufacturing Company’s land were both set aside in 1863. Oldhams land bordered
Carbrook and The Cotton Company estate stretched from Slacks Creek to Drews Road.
Surveyor William Fryar’s sugar lease occupied land

between Drews Road and the Pacific

Motorway, and dates from 1865. The most famous Logan cotton plantation was that of Robert
Towns, located at Veresdale. He was the first person to procure Kanaka labour to work the
cotton fields.

The cotton plantation at Loganholme was not successful and the estate changed hands  a
number of times. Louis Hope, of the Ormiston plantation near Cleveland, had turned to sugar
growing and in 1867, he sent his manager John McDonald to encourage Logan River farmers
to plan sugar and to send it to his mill for crushing. At that time, Hope’s engineer, was James
Strachan, who had previously worked at Pettigrew’s sawmill in Brisbane. Hope had also
acquired Kanaka labourers, as did many Logan River farmers

A ferry was established on the river at Loganholme in 1867, with Henry Eden awarded the
first official lease. He employed others to run the ferry and a Mr Holmes ran this ferry
initially. A wharf reserve was established in 1868.

By 1869 Strachan had gone into partnership with William Fryar and established the first sugar
mill on the river at Loganholme. This was initially a very successful business that employed
up to 100 men at crushing time. This included labourers and punt operators, who brought the
cane to the mill by river boat. James McMillan established nearby a store in the early 1870s.

The area continued to progress and in 1871 residents began lobbying for a school. The
process was to take 2 years, with the Loganholme School opening in May 1873 with 37
pupils.

The Post Office was opened on October 25, 1876, presumably either located at the mill or at
the store. The first post master was Charles Welsh who was listed as a manager at the time of
the establishment of the school.

Pastoralist James Tyson purchased the Loganholme plantation in 1876, and Fryar and
Strachan continued to  run the mill. However they were declared insolvent later that year,
because of problems with the delivery of new equipment from Glasgow. Tyson then installed
some of his nephews as managers of the mill, and ultimately they relocated the best of the
machinery to a new venture in Tully. The mill continued with old equipment, and despite the
acquisition of a distillery licence in 1884, the business struggled to survive. At that time it was
managed by William Castles, for the Queensland Mercantile Company which had purchased
the estate.

Major flooding occurred in January 1887, with much damage to the surrounding farmlands.
Up to two meters of sand was deposited along the banks of the river in Loganholme and eye-
witnesses thought it resembled the Sahara. The sugar industry went into rapid decline in the
late 1880s, because of the flood of 1887 and the drought of 1888. Kanaka labour was also
being phased out, and many farmers relied on this cheap labour. There were 40 mills in the
region in 1885 and by 1888 there were only nine.

Farmers in the region were then turning to dairying, which became of increasing importance,
particularly after the opening of the Kingston Butter Factory in 1907.

The Loganholme ferry continued to be run by local men, although the ferry  and the
ferryman’s house suffered from the regular flooding on the river. The ferry punt was lost in
the 1873 floods, the ferry, punt and house washed away in 1887, and the house was again lost
in 1893. At that point it was decided to relocate the house site from the Beenleigh side of the
river, to a new higher location at Loganholme.

Water hyacinth became a problem on the river from around 1908. By 1914 it had increased to
such an extent that a boom had to be constructed across the river to allow the ferry to cross.
The first motor cars utilised the ferry from about 1910. The traffic continued to increase and
by 1930, the ferry operator, Vince Kunde built a second ferry to cope with the demand. The
days of the double ferry were numbered however, as a bridge was under construction at that
time.

The Loganholme Bridge opened on 1 July 1931. It operated as a toll bridge with the toll
collector occupying the old ferryman’s cottage. The toll booths remained in operation until
November 1945, although the bridge  had more than paid for itself by that time. Further
serious flooding occurred in January 1947, when the bridge approaches washed away. The
Waterford Bridge washed away and this led to increased traffic on the Loganholme Bridge.

The Albert Shire established a park under the bridge in the early 1950s. It was known as
Logan Park, and provided a pleasant stopover for travellers to the South Coast. By 1967 a
new bridge was built in conjunction with an upgrade of the Pacific Highway. The new bridge
catered for southbound traffic, while the old bridge carried northbound vehicles. During the
1974 floods, the southern approaches to the old bridge were washed away and only the new
bridge could be utilised during the 10 weeks it took to make restitution.

The Albert Shire established a park under the bridge in the early 1950s. It was known as
Logan Park, and provided a pleasant stopover for travellers to the South Coast. By 1967 a
new bridge was built in conjunction with an upgrade of the Pacific Highway. The new bridge
catered for southbound traffic, while the old bridge carried northbound vehicles. During the
1974 floods, the southern approaches to the old bridge were washed away and only the new
bridge could be utilised during the 10 weeks it took to make restitution.

The tourism industry was developing along with the urban sprawl. Both Ashtons and Bullens
Circuses were lobbying the Albert Shire Council for approval to construct Lion Parks. In
December 1968 Bullens were negotiating the purchase of land in Stapylton and Ashtons
established their park on the corner of Bryants Road and the Pacific Highway, which opened
in April 1969. It was known as Ashton’s Animal Kingdom. Both of these ventures were
relatively short lived. Ashtons was sold to the Myer Corporation in 1977.

Myer Queensland Stores Ltd purchased the Ashton’s Lion Park site in October 1977 with the
intention of building a regional shopping centre. A new Tavern opened in Loganholme in July
1979. The Wild Waters Water Slide Park began operation October 1982 adjacent to the old
Ashtons site. While Myer initially shelved plans for the major shopping centre, a more
compact centre, the Loganholme Shopping Village opened on Bryants Road in December
1987. Ongoing negotiations for the Hyperdome site involved the sale  of Wild Waters in 1984.
The turning of the first sod on the Hyperdome project occurred in September 1988, with the
official opening in July 1989.

The Logan Motorway, initially known as the Goodna–Loganholme Road, was constructed to
link the Cunningham and Pacific Highways via Carol Park, Browns Plains, Loganlea and

Loganholme. Initial planning scheduled completion of stage one by December 1988. By
October 1995 the company announced the duplication of the road between the Ipswich
Motorway and Wembley Road. This was linked with the Gateway Motorway, by the Gateway
extension via Kuraby in 1997. One of the last links with the history of the area was lost in this
process, with the Logan Motorway consuming the old Cotton Company Road at Loganholme.

A new bridge at Loganholme was constructed with Bi-centennial funding in 1986. This led to
the decommissioning of the old 1931 bridge, while still using the 1968 bridge. Plans for the
Pacific Motorway were announced in April 1996. The northern interchanges on the Motorway
included the completion and integration of the duplication of the Logan Motorway.
Construction began in late 1997 and was completed in September 2000. The Motorway
construction led to further bridge construction during 2000.

Loganlea:

The current area of Loganlea represents only a small portion of what was originally Loganlea.
The area stretched between two early settlements of Slacks Creek and Waterford, with
Loganlea Road the main road to the south. A bridge was built across Slacks Creek on
Loganle a Road in 1866. The first a postal service to what was known as the Logan
Agricultural Reserve, was located on Mr Beetham’s property in Loganlea Road to the north of
Moloney Street. In 1871 the post office was relocated to Richard Leo’s Morning Star Hotel on
the corner of Loganlea and Beenleigh-Kingston Roads. During the 1870s, Cobb and Co
Coaches called at the hotel en route to Beenleigh. A bridge across the Logan River was built
in Waterford in 1876.

Some of the first settlers in Loganlea included Robert and John Nosworthy, James Ferris and
William Jameson, George, Aaron and Emmanuel Love, Thomas and William Armstrong,
John Beetham, James Moloney, and Richard and Patrick Leo. James Ferris, was unfortunately
one of the first victims of the flooding of the Logan River in February 1864.

William and Margaret Armstrong arrived in the 1860s and initially grew cotton and sugar as
most others did at that time. Later they grew millet and maize and bred poultry, pigs and dairy
cattle. William was instrumental in establishing the first Wesleyan Church in the Slacks Creek
area. The first provisional school for the area was run from this church, which was situated in
Centenary Road at Slacks Creek.

William and Margaret sons’, Thomas and William, settled along the river in what is now
called Meadowbrook. In 1884 they gave land for the Loganlea New Wesleyan Church which
was situated in Armstrong Road in the vicinity of the Logan Hospital..

The railway bridge over the Logan River was situated at Loganlea and was built during 1884-
5. The railway to Loganlea opened April 1885 and by July the bridge was completed and the
line opened to Beenleigh. The construction of the railway in 1885 also assisted transport and
communications generally, with the mail collected from the stationmaster, Mr Shanahan. The
bridge was washed away in the floods of 1887.

The Loganlea area was the home to dairy stud farms during the mid 20

Century. Successive

members of the Armstrong family ran the dairy farm,

Riverdale,

until the 1970s. It was during

this time that surrounding land was bought by developers and new urban housing estates were
created. Part of the Armstrong land is now the Logan TAFE College, which was established
in 1988. The Logan Hospital opened in 1990. The remainder is now Riverdale Park on the
Logan River. The nearby Griffith University is also on old grazing land and was opened in
1998.

Marsden:

Marsden was originally part of Kingston and some of the earliest land holders included
Richard Leo who owned the Morning Star Hotel at Waterford and T W Daly. During the
1940s the land was owned and subdivided by Bill Anderson. He advertised the land for sale
as ‘Kingston Park’ in 1944. Eventually the new residents started a progress association and
the treasurer was Mrs Violet Marsden. This name of Marsden was agreed upon by the
members of the association. The settlers cleared the land themselves and formed the streets of
First to Fifth Avenue. Some of the early land holders in the area included Mr Cottee, who
grew fruit for his soft drink company, H E Cottee of Salisbury and John de Meio who grew
macadamias, tobacco and strawberries.

Apart from the increased urban development in the area during the late 70s and early 80s, an
industrial estate opened in 1983, bringing more emplo yment opportunities to the area. A
large shopping centre opened in Marsden in 1985.

Meadowbrook:

Meadowbrook was originally part of Loganlea and was gazetted as a place name in October
1991. Much confusion was caused by this name change as the housing estate in the area was
marketed as Meadowbank from 1987. The park along the Logan River was initially known as
Meadowbank Park, but the name was soon changed to

Riverdale

, as this was the name of the

property of the original settlers, William and Margaret Armstrong.

The Armstrongs came to the area near Slacks Creek in the 1860s and grew cotton, sugar,
corn, millet and maize as well as breeding poultry, pigs and dairy cattle. William and
Margaret’s sons, Thomas and William, later moved to the area now serviced by Armstrong
Road, where they established themselves as dairy farmers. In 1884 they formally transferred
land for the Slacks Creek New Wesleyan Church on a rise in Armstrong Road, adjacent to
where the TAFE College and hospital are now located. A Wesleyan Church was in operation
in the district from at least 1873, and was situated in Centenary Road, which was originally
part of Daisy Hill Road.

Alf Shailer, nephew of F F R Shailer, owned land to the north of the current university
campus site from 1898, where he grew citrus fruit. Farmers in the area used both Slacks
Creek and the Logan River as transport routes and wharves were located on an extension of
Ellerslie Road and along Murrays Road to the east.

Other early settlers of this region were the Fullers, who lived near to the current university
site. Following the tragic deaths of two members of the Fuller family in 1894, the property
was sold to John Morrow. He eventually owned three properties in the area and

Ellerslie

was

the name of one of them. When John Morrow died in 1920 the property was sold to the
Stimpsons who established a dairy stud farm on the site, known as

Eleresley

and

Ayrshire

stud, Loganlea. It was run by F A Stimpson’s son-in-law Ernest Evans. The correct spelling
of the property name was restored to the Ellerslie Road in the post war era.

During World War II an aircraft landing strip crossed Ellerslie Road and the current Logan
Motorway diagonally from Meakin Road to Evans Road. The Ellerslie estate was ultimately
sold to Suncorp and in late 1995 the land was sold to the Department of Education as the site
for a new campus of Griffith University, to service the rapid growth area of the Brisbane to
Gold Coast corridor. The Campus opened in 1998.

Park Ridge:

This area was originally known as the Logan Ridges. The Post Office changed the name to
Park Ridge in the early 1890s, apparently to reflect the park like nature of region. Residents
in the area now known as Boronia Heights lobbied the government for a provisional school in
1893. The local population, who described themselves as mostly Yorkshiremen, included
James Calam, John Storey, Ann Cordingley, Isaac Mayes, Elizabeth Oxford and Thomas
Butler. They had all built comfortable cottages with fenced paddocks and gardens and had a
considerable area of land under cultivation. The locals banded together to build the school
which was originally located between Rosia Road and Hillcrest Road. he building was
completed in April 1895. Timber getting and farming were the main industries during the
1890s with Mr Cordingley operating the blacksmith shop and John Storey as postmaster.

Unfortunately the school was built without ant capping and by 1907 was in a dangerous
condition with white ant damage from the stumps to the rafters. Ultimately, the old disused
Browns Plains School was moved to a new site to service both Park Ridge and Browns Plains.
It was located on its present site between Park Ridge Road and Talinga Street. The land was
donated by Mr F H Seelither and the deeds transferred to the government on 7 March 1913.
The old school was used for public meetings until it was no longer habitable.

Timber getting and farming remained important early in the 20

century and during the 1930s

local farmers tried tobacco growing. Their success was short lived and they later turned to
poultry. Today, Ingham’s Chicken is one of the major industries in the area.

Priestdale:

The origins of this place name are destined to remain a mystery. The creek in the region was
named Priest Gully when it was first surveyed in the early 1860s. Timber was the main
industry from that time with many timbergetters and shingle splitters living in the region in
the 19

Century. From 1879 large tracts of land in this area were owned by Catholic Bishop

James Quinn and subsequently transferred to Bishop Robert Dunne following his death.
Bishop Dunne later undertook coal exploration on the area, but the deposits were deemed to
be uneconomic to mine. Many locals believe that the name of Priest Gully originated with the
Bishop’s ownership but this is not so.

Priestdale is located to the east of Rochedale South and the area is mostly bushland which
forms the buffer zone between Redland Shire and Logan City. Much of the surrounding area
is either State Forest, National Park or Conservation Areas. Priestdale was registered as a
locality in March 1979.

Regents Park:

Regents Park was the name given by the developers of the estate, which was under way
during the early 1980s. The area was originally part of Browns Plains and later part of
Heritage Woods estate which was later divided into Heritage Park and Regents Park. The
suburb is located to the south of Browns Plains. Although the Council initially rejected the
proposed name change, it was eventually approved in May 1986 and gazetted in June 1987.

Rochedale South:

Rochedale South was officially gazetted in July 1979 and lies to the south of Priestdale Road.
The suburb of Rochedale is in Brisbane City.

Rochedale

was the name of the homestead built

by the Roche family who settled in the area in 1868. Their property stretched from the
current Rochedale School, north to Ford Road and east to Priest Gully. They also owned the
site of Redeemer College. The family grew grapes and had a citrus orchard. After World

War I the area was turned over to small crop farming and in the 1930s they moved into
dairying.

Much of the land in Rochedale South was originally owned by Robert Grieve and William
Underwood and during the mid 1970s it was suggested that the area be renamed Langford,
after Colonel Langford who owned some of William Underwood’s property from the early
1930s. Colonel ‘Sam’ Langford retired to his home on the Springwood estate after World
War II and subdivided his land into 40 and 60 acre lots. He lived on Sunningdale Avenue and
continued to grow pineapples. Local residents rejected the proposed name change in the late
1970s, but in the early 1990s the prospect of a name change was again on the agenda
following the Brisbane City Council’s proposal to build a massive waste dump in Gardiner
Road, Rochedale. Some locals suggested the name change to avoid the connotations
associated with living near a major dump. The move was defeated.

Shailer Park:

This suburb is named after Francis and Catherine Shailer who arrived with their children in
the area in 1866. Like many farmers in the area they first grew cotton and later sugar. The
Shailers were probably best known for their fruit growing and operated the first citrus orchard
in Southern Queensland, situated in Slacks Creek. The land selected by Francis Shailer was
situated to the north of the current Shailer Road. Francis was a teacher at the first and second
Slacks Creek Provisional Schools. He was also the first Clerk of the Tingalpa Divisional
Board in 1880. The Shailers intermarried with other pioneering families in the district,
including the Dennis’ who were related to the Markwells.

Francis’ son Alfred later farmed the area now known as Daisy Hill. At that time it was called

Oakey Mountain

and was owned by his grandfather, James Dennis. Alf’s son Glen Shailer

also farmed this property. Glen carried on the family’s tradition of involvement in local
government. He was elected to the Albert Shire Council in 1961 and served almost
continuously until 1985. He was elected Mayor of Logan City in 1982 and served for one
term.

Shailer Park incorporates the housing estate marketed as Kimberley Park from 1973, the name
of which has been perpetuated in the local state primary school. Shailer Park Primary and
High Schools are also in the area. The Logan Hyperdome is the major shopping centre in the
area and it opened August 1989.

Shailer Park was originally named as a district in 1971, then as a sub-district of Slacks Creek
in 1977. It was officially named a suburb in 1991.

Slacks Creek:

Slacks Creek originally encompassed both sides of the Pacific Highway but in May 2002, the
boundaries were altered so that the suburb was located only on the south side of the highway.
The Slacks Creek Progress Association had lobbied for many years for the retention of the
area containing the school, the historic St Marks Anglican Church and the cemetery, but these
are now in the locality of Daisy Hill.

This is one of the oldest settled areas in the Logan District and was named after John Slack
whose property was named

Mungaree

near the Logan River. He grazed cattle in the district

from about 1845. John Slack died in 1861 and his son William remained in the area and
married local girl Mary Anne Skyring. William Slack leased land along the current Pacific
Highway in between Paradise Road and the Loganlea Road interchange. William Slack

originally operated a slaughter yard on

Mungaree

which Markwells later bought, as well as

another one opposite the Upper Mount Gravatt School.

When the first bridge over the Brisbane River was constructed in 1865, this land was opened
up for closer settlement and the rough bush track through Mt Gravatt to the Logan River was
known as Slack’s track. The main road to the south followed the current Pacific Highway to
Loganlea Road, and then crossed Slacks Creek on Loganlea Road and continued to
Waterford.

The Slacks Creek School has operated from numerous locations including the provisional
school which operated from 1873 from the original Wesleyan Church located in Centenary
Road. Messrs Shailer and Markwell ran the school committee and the first teacher was Mr
Beach who transferred from Eight Mile Plains. By 1878, Francis Shailer was teaching at the
school. Following a falling out with some of the locals, the church steward Thomas
Armstrong, refused to allow the school to continue in that location and a site for a new
provisional school was chosen in Loganlea Road. This site was on the western side of the
road between the creek and Loganlea Road. The site was gazetted in July 1879.

Mail services began in 1878, with the Markwells acting as receiving office keeper. Once the
railway opened in 1885, mail was collected from the railway at Loganlea and by 1890, a
receiving office opened at Daisy Hill. Mail was delivered by horse and buggy twice a week.

The Slacks Creek Provisional School was subject to much local flooding and by the end of
1893, the school and teacher’s residence had been moved to a flood free location on the
Logan Road (Pacific Highway) near the intersection with Daisy Hill Road. It was moved
again in 1964 when the ever-increasing traffic on the Pacific Highway made it a less than
ideal site for a school.

The first Church of England was St Marks which was built in 1901 and still remains today in
Winnetts Road. A small cemetery exists adjacent to the church. Both are on the State
Heritage Register.

The first store in Slacks Creek was opened by Sid Floate on the highway following WWII.
The store was built of br icks removed from a demolition site in Brisbane and it housed the
telephone exchange, post office as well as a general store. In March 1954 business became so
brisk that Mr Floate erected a new Post Office building next door. Both buildings remain on
the service road to the south of the Watland Street overpass (which was built in 1978).

At the end of WWII the Fiesta Gardens pool operated from a site to the south of Floate’s
store. The site was home to an army camp during the war. In 1954, it was noted in the council
minutes that the pool was emptied every fortnight. Presumably the use of chlorine and pool
filtration was quite primitive at that time. This site later became the Blue Gum Caravan Park.

While attempts to commence the construction of a community hall were made as early as
1938, the war hindered the process for some time. In 1955 the Slacks Creek Progress
Association formed as on offshoot of the Slacks Creek School Wefare Committee, and
fundraising began. The hall was built with community labour during 1958-59 under the
direction of local carpenter Dick Ison. The building was regularly upgraded, with the final
brick cladding completed in 1993.

Another significant shopping centre in the area was the Argonaut Centre. It evolved from
Noel Burke’s Golden Fleece Service Station on Kingston Road. The site was rebuilt in Early
1967 following a fire. An industrial estate was developed adjacent in 1968, and the Argonaut
Shopping Centre was officially opened on 1 May 1969. A post office, known as Woodridge
East was located in the shopping centre in 1970.

The area in the vicinity of Springlands Drive was part of the Dennis family’s holdings. Many
locals will remember Springlands Barn, which was demolished in 1983. It was originally
built to house the Dennis’s jersey cows and there was a sawmill at the rear of the building
which provided timber for many local buildings. In later years the barn was converted into a
dance hall by the Porter family and was used for many social functions in the district for
many years.

During the 1960s, industry in the Slacks Creek area was developing with a macadamia nut
processing plant located on the Pacific Highway, as well as a timber veneer manufacturer,
Slacks Creek Pottery, Paxton’s poultry abattoir and their subsequent machinery service
centre. The Moss Street industrial subdivision in the 1960s was the forerunner to today’s
extensive industrialisation of the area.

Springwood:

Springwood took its name from a 614 acre property which was situated along Rochedale
Road, between Underwood and Springwood Roads. Local publican William Underwood
originally owned it. Brigadier Sam Langford bought the land in 1932. At that time it was
known as ‘wire paddock’ because it was the first fenced property in the area. However the
current suburb of Springwood lies to the south of the Springwood Road on land originally
owned by W Robinson and Robert Grieve. The area was scrub with wild brumbies and plenty
of wildlife, but it did have a spring in the middle, hence the name Springwood. Springwood
Road was named in 1955. W F Roche suggested the name. At that time the road was known
as Priest Gully Road, and confusion existed between it and Priestdale Road.

When the Brisbane Transportation Study was released in 1965, numerous freeways were
proposed including one to link Brisbane with the Pacific Highway at Eight Mile Plains. The
projected date of completion was 1970.

The Springwood area was planned as a satellite development to be located at the end of the
South East Freeway. The first phase of development began in November 1968. Freeway
construction proceeded at a much slower pace than originally predicted and the first phase
which included the construction of the (Gardens Point) Captain Cook Bridge was not
completed until 1970. The name Springwood was gazetted by the placenames board in 1972.
The final section of the Freeway between Logan Road and Springwood Road was constructed
between 1982 and 1985, almost 20 years after the first land sales in the area.

Springwood is an established residential area with three primary schools, one high school and
two major shopping centres. Arndale Shopping Centre and the Springwood Hotel opened in
1974, with Springwood Mall being completed during 1986. The first Springwood Post Office
was opened in January 1985, having been previously serviced by the Woodridge Post Office.

Tanah Merah:

The earliest selector in this region, which was originally known as Slacks Creek, was George
Palk. He had come to the area in 1862 to work for the Cotton Company. Mr Palk was a
member of the first Tingalpa Divisional Board of 1880, which had its headquarters at Mt
Cotton. He was chairman in 1882, 1883 and 1884.

The naming of Tanah Merah seems to have been the subject of much urban myth and
conjecture locally. Some have suggested that the name was given to the area by the McBryde
family who came from Malaya in the early 1950s and carried on the name of their Malayan

property. Tanah Merah means red earth and it seems that the developers of the housing
estates in the area continued the theme of names from Malaya and Indonesia.

Underwood:

Underwood is named after early settler William Underwood who was a land holder, in the
Eight Mile Plains district from 1865. He established the Commercial Hotel on his land to the
north of the Beenleigh Road intersection. It operated from the early 1870s through to 1895
when it burnt down. Underwood had moved on in the 1880s to manage the Mt Gravatt hotel.
During the late 1890s, Underwood’s sons William junior and Walter were horse dealers in
Eight Mile Plains, while Arthur was a storekeeper and blacksmith in the Mt Gravatt area.
Walter Underwood lived on the corner of Underwood and Logan Roads through to the late
1930s and was involved in farming and timber getting. The suburb was gazetted in 1975 and
at that time straddled the boundaries of Brisbane City and Albert Shire. Today, Underwood is
bounded by Millers Road, Underwood Road, the South-East Freeway, Logan Road and
roughly Compton Road. It includes major industrial and shopping precincts, the mail
exchange, the Australian Football Club, the Logan Aquatic Centre, as well as residential
estates.

Waterford West:

Waterford West must be examined in the historical context of Waterford and Logan Reserve.
Migrants from England, Ireland and Germany settled this area.

Initial development in Waterford West began around Tygum lagoon. Arthur Pimm took up
riverfront land here in 1862 with John Rafter taking up the remainder to the north of the
lagoon. Pimm then engineered the relocation of the Waterford ferry, which Samuel Waterman
had established at the end of Tygum Road in 1862. Pimm closed off the road and then had a
new road surveyed to cross the river at the current bridge site. Pimm then subdivided the
estate, which he marketed as Pimlico in 1866. A police barracks was established at Waterford
at that time also. The township, we now know as Waterford, was surveyed in 1866, but did
not have a name at that time. The name of Waterford did not come into common usage until
1868.

The ferry had a string of operators including Waterman and William Stone. The first official
licence went to Henry Eden in 1865. Eden had a small hotel and store located between
Loganlea Road and the ferry, which was used to accommodate travellers. Eden generally
employed others to run his ferries, which also included the Loganholme ferry. Eden’s Ferry
Hotel was licensed to ferryman William Huston in March 1871. Richard Leo established the
Morning Star Hotel at the same time on the western corner of Loganlea Road. He was
licensed in May 1871. Another hotel was built on the southern side of the river, run by Robert
Skiffens, which was built around 1873. It was known as the Waterford Arms.

Arthur Pimm’s attempts to sell Pimlico township were not successful and in 1869, Henry
Jordan, the former emigration agent for Queensland, purchased the estate and renamed it
Tygum. Jordan was instrumental in much of the Irish immigration to Queensland. He was the
state member for East Moreton between 1868-71. Jordan began construction of a sugar mill
almost immediately. Sugar was seen as a better option to cotton. Sugar cultivation on the
Logan was encouraged by Louis Hope of the Ormiston plantation near Cleveland, and early
sugar crops on the Logan were taken by riverboat to Hope’s mill for crushing.

Sugar growing became a key industry on the Logan for the next 20 years. Hope only managed
to secure the milling of Logan sugar for a couple of years and many farmers started building
their own mills. The first crushing at Tygum mill was in September 1870. At that time Jordan

purchased Tygum Road and it was permanently closed to traffic. It is likely that the stand of
bunya trees marking the entrance to his estate, was planted at this time. The other significant
legacy of Jordan’s occupation is the private cemetery in Henry Jordan Park, which holds the
remains of four infants of Henry and Sarah Jordan, who died between 1872 and 1876.

Logan River residents continually lobbied for a bridge across the river, but the funding was
not forthcoming. By 1875 tenders were called for the supply of timber for a bridge at
Waterford. It was completed in August 1876.

A school was also required in the region. While the Logan Reserve School had been
established around 1865, it was far removed geographically from Waterford. The first
Waterford school was set up in Charles Wilson’s barn in 1869 and a new primary school was
established in 1871.

In the mid 1870s the Catholic Church from Logan Reserve was relocated to a site adjacent to
the Morning Star Hotel. A cemetery evolved next to the church. It may have been in use as
early as 1874 when infant Richard Leo junior died. The Leo family formally donated the land
to the Church in 1892.

Henry Jordan sold off much of his property in 1878. Tygum House was sold to William Arthy
and Jordan left the district. Arthy and his son James are also buried in the private cemetery on
the riverbank in Henry Jordan Park.

The Lahey brothers purchased Jordan’s sugar mill in 1879. The sugar milling equipment was
then sold to Schneiders of Bethania, who set it up on the creek in Old Logan Village Road.
Laheys then turned their attention to timber milling. The sawmill burnt down in 1884 and the
family later moved to Canungra.

Local government was introduced in the form of the Waterford Divisional Board, (later
known as Shire Council) which commenced operation in 1880. Initial meetings were held in
the Waterford Arms Hotel, and then in a storeroom opposite the Royal Hotel in Beenleigh.
Waterford shared premises and a clerk, with the Beenleigh Division for many years. In 1906
new boundaries were gazetted for the Waterford Shire to include some of the former
Yeerongpilly Shire to the west. Chairman Martin Schneider, then lobbied for independent
premises for the Council. He donated land in Waterford and a small timber hall was erected.
The first meeting in the new hall was held in April 1908.

Railway transport came to the Logan with the construction of the first part of the South Coast
line in 1885. A rail bridge was constructed over the river at Loganlea in 1884.

The worst flood ever recorded on the river occurred in January 1887, and the railway bridge
was washed away. The Waterford Bridge survived, but six houses were washed away.

Further major flooding occurred in April  1893, with the bridge suffering each time it had to
endure a flood. By 1916 a new concrete bridge was built with steep sides, which was locally
known as the pig trough.

In the twentieth century, dairying became the key industry, particularly after the opening of
the Kingston Butter Factory in 1907. Cattle ticks were a problem and the locals installed a
cattle dip in Waterford, between the bunya tress and the river in 1905.

Waterford was again victim to a major flood on Australia Day in 1947. The bridge washed
away and the ferry had to be re-introduced while the construction of the new bridge was
planned. Fortunately for the council, the Kingston-Beenleigh Road had been declared a main
road, which meant the State Government had to pay for a new bridge. Despite local

councillors lobbying the Main Roads Commissioner for a high level bridge, this was not
forthcoming, and a new low level concrete bridge was constructed during 1953-4, which
opened in July 1954.

Coincidently, the next major flood on the river  occurred on Australia Day in 1974. Two
houses were washed away, although the bridge survived. A new high level bridge was
constructed in 1996.

The old hotels were rebuilt too. The Morning Star, which became the Club Hotel at the turn of
the century, was rebuilt in 1969. The Waterford Arms was resurrected as the Riverwilde Hotel
in 1972.

A drive-in theatre was built on Logan Reserve Road, near Beutel Road in December 1974. A
new school was established in Waterford West in 1976. The old Catholic Church had been
sold off in the late 1940s and relocated to Eight Mile Plains and then to Daisy Hill, where it
remains in use as St Declans. The cemetery was then sold by the Catholic Church, with only
four graves relocated to Gleneagle. It is unknown how many graves remain on the site, which
is now occupied by semi-industrial shops.

A new school was built in Waterford West in 1976.

Shire amalgamations in 1949, saw Waterford Shire incorporated into the Beaudesert Shire. In
1978 Logan and Albert Shires were formed and Waterford was split in two, with the western
part in Logan and the remainder in Albert Shire (later Gold Coast). Waterford West was
gazetted as a suburb in 1987.

Woodridge:

The area where Woodridge now stands was set aside as a timber reserve when the first
selections were being taken up in the early 1870s. The township of Booran was surveyed in
1888 following the construction of the railway. The current streets of Victoria, Smith and
Bruce, Edward, Douglas, Plunkett and North Street indicate the location of that township.

Woodridge became known as Grahams’ Siding in 1913 after Dugald Graham, who ran a
timber getting business in the area, received permission to erect a siding. He established a
firewood mill on Railway Parade and at that time nominated the name of Devar for the
location of the mill and siding. This name appears on maps produced at the time. In June
1913 Mr Octavius Stubbs bought Graham’s mill and later subdivided the land. He called the
estate Woodridge Estate. His timber mill was on the site of the current Church of England in
Railway Parade. A receiving office was opened in Towning’s general store near Graham’s
old mill in 1923. The name Woodridge was eventually accepted by the Postmaster General
who referred the place name to the Department of Public Lands on 1 January 1924.

A Provisional School operated from the hall, which was on the site of the Progress Hall from
1924 to 1932. A new school on the corner of Wembley Road and Railway Parade opened in
1932. Mr Boyle who operated a sawmill in Railway Parade donated one acre of the two-acre
site. During the 1930s about 30 farming families lived in Woodridge and as well as growing
fruit vegetables and fodder crops, they also started up a poultry industry. The largest local
poultry farm was on the site of the Woodridge North School. By 1958 the township boasted a
Post Office, two grocers and a butcher shop.

Much of the development in the 1960s was the result of the Queensland Housing Commission
buying up large parcels of land to provide affordable housing in outer metropolitan areas. In
1959, the Trinder family donated 230 acres to the Lutheran Church and ten years later the

Trinder Park home for the aged was opened. In 1969 a new Catholic School opened in
Woodridge and a state school was established in Woodridge North. Woodridge High School
operated from 1972. In 1970 the first library opened in Railway Parade and the Ambulance
opened a sub centre. The Woodridge Tavern opened in 1973 followed by the K-Mart
shopping centre in 1978.

Bibliography

Baillier’s Queensland Gazetteer

, Brisbane; F F Baillier, 1876.

Buchanan, Robyn,

Logan History draft

1999.

Berrinba-Planning Study Vols 1,2, University of Queensland (Master of Urban and Regional

Planning) / Logan City Council, 1997.

Browns Plains School File, 1877-1909, EDU/Z 359, Queensland State Archives.

Carbrook State School Centenary, Gramzow 1877- Carbrook 1977, centenary committee,

1977.

Department of Natural Resources, Place Names Board.

Finch, Lindy,

Kingston Butter Factory, A report on its historical significance,

(undated)

Logan Central Local Studies Collection.

Frew, Joan,

Queensland Post Offices 1842-1980 and Receiving Offices 1869-1927

Brisbane;

Frew, 1981.

Greenbank School File, 1892-1934, EDU/Z 1148, Queensland State Archives.

Jenkinson, D. (compiler)

Waterford State School Centenary 1869-1969

, souvenir booklet,

centenary committee 1969.

Jenkinson, D. (compiler)

Loganholme State School Centenary 1873-1973

, souvenir booklet,

centenary committee 1973.

Jones, Michael,

Country of Five Rivers; Albert Shire 1788-1988,

Sydney: Allen and Unwin,

1988.

Kerr, John and John Armstrong,

Destination South Brisbane, an illustrated history of the

Southside Railways of Brisbane,

Brisbane: Australian Railway Historical Society Qld Div.

1978.

Logan City Council; Logan City;

A Community Profile

, overview, 1998 edition.

Logan City Council; ‘Defining and naming of localities’, file Nos 154/08, 19722, 1979-1993.

Logan Central Library; Local Studies Files; locations and families.

Mannion, Lorraine ,

Logan Reserve School, 1865-1995- 130 Years,

school committee 1995.

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, self published

1965.