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About Chandler Ward
Area and Location Description:
Brisbane (southeast), Queensland, Australia.
The ward of Chandler covers an area of 95.4 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of Carindale, Gumdale, Chandler, MacKenzie, Burbank, Rochedale, Carina Heights, Capalaba West and parts of Belmont, Camp Hill, Mansfield and Mt Gravatt East.
The Chandler Ward is home to more than 25,000 electors in 11,800 households.
Geographically, the Ward is characterised by large tracts of natural bushland and numerous conservation reserves. Since 1990, the Brisbane City Council has invested more than $25 million into purchasing and protecting bushland within the Chandler Ward. These funds were raised through the Bushland Levy, which was introduced by former Lord Mayor, Sallyanne Atkinson. To date, more than 741 hectares (7.41 million square metres or 1831 acres) of bushland in the local area has been protected for future generations.
Major Local Landmarks and Facilities:
The Sleeman Sports Complex at Chandler is named after Frank Northey Sleeman, Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1976 to 1980. This facility was a major venue for the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games. It is situated on the corner of Old Cleveland and Tilley Roads, Chandler. Facilties at the complex include a 4,300 seat aquatic centre, a 1,500 seat theatre, a 3,000 seat cycling velodrome, a 2,630 seat indoor sports arena for basketball, volleyball, netball and badmington, a fully equiped gymnastics hall and a childcare centre. TransLink also operates a Park n Ride facility for 500 cars on the grounds of the complex.
Westfield Carindale Shopping Centre is located at 1151 Creek Road, Carindale and houses almost 300 retail outlets and more than 5,400 car parking spaces. This facility is seen by many people as a focal point and meeting place for the local community. The centre includes a Commonwealth Government Medicare / Family Assistance Office and a Brisbane City Council Library (open seven days). A major Bus Interchange is located outside the Target entrance, off Carindale Street. For bus timetable inquiries, please phone the Transport Info line on 131 230.
The Whites Hill Reserve, the Carindale Recreation Reserve and the Brisbane Koala Park are major Council owned facilities, which provide local residents with numerous recreational opportunities in the local area.
The Whites Hill Reserve can be accessed via Boundary Road, Camp Hill (main entrance) and offers extensive sports fields, playground equipment, basketball half-court, walking tracks, barbecues, picnic shelters, public toilets and a dog off-leash area.
The Carindale Recreation Reserve is located on the corner of Bedivere Street and Cadogan Street, Carindale and offers sports fields, excellent playground equipment, basketball half-court, rebound wall, walking and cycling tracks, barbecues, picnic shelters and public toilets.
The Brisbane Koala Park, located in Burbank, is part of an extensive network of conservation reserves in the outer eastern suburbs that are aimed at protecting key Koala habitat. The Koala Bushland Coordinated Conservation Area is Queensland's first co-ordinated conservation area. Together with the Queensland Government and the Redland and Logan Councils, the Brisbane City Council is working to protect one of Australia's most significant regional koala populations. Residents can enjoy the rich natural environment by making use of the many walking tracks, barbecues and picnic shelters in the Brisbane Koala Park.
Origin of the name “Chandler”:
The Chandler Ward is named after Sir John Beale Chandler who migrated to Australia from England where he established the successful Chandler’s electrical business. In 1930, he also established Brisbane’s first commercial radio station. Sir John went on to become Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1940 until 1952 and was also a State Member of Parliament.
The Chandler Ward was created following a redistribution of electoral boundaries in 1994.
History of Chandler Ward :
Belmont
Postcode: 4156
Census Population: 4,072 (includes Mackenzie)
*Note: Only part of Belmont is in the Chandler Ward
The creek and hills of the Belmont region were important hunting and camping grounds for the Aborigines, both before and after white settlement. The mineral springs near Mt Petrie were a popular camping spot and Mount Gravatt and Capalaba Roads are believed to have originally been Aboriginal tracks. Belmont was a bush area in the first half of the 1800’s and by the late 1880’s the area was beginning to emerge as a farming district.
Belmont was the name given by August Carl Fredrick Bernecker to his estate in 1876. The suburb was once a large shire on the fringe of Brisbane and had a wool scour on Bulimba Creek, a sugar mill, canefields and the Redbank meatworks. Colonel Mackenzie was one of the area’s earliest settlers and he established the first sugar mill on Scrub Road.
Bulimba Creek is an important natural feature in the area. Bulimba means ‘magpie-lark’ and was the Aboriginal name for Whites Hill. The area was serviced by a local railway line, ‘The Belmont Flyer’, which ceased to run in the 1920’s. The Belmont Shire Hall was lost in a fire in the 1940’s.
Burbank
Postcode: 4156
Census Population: 1,145
Burbank was named after Alfred or Frank Burbank, who both lived in the area and contributed much to the development of Burbank and Capalaba as a suburb in 1976. For the first century of white development it was part of Upper Tingalpa, the other half being Sheldon.
Burbank is a large rural suburb on the boundary of the City of Brisbane. Tingalpa Creek and Reservoir and Buhot Creek form its southern and eastern boundaries and Priest Gully and Stockyard Creek (with its head branches) both flow across the suburb and into Tingalpa Creek.
The vegetation in the area is primarily lowland eucalypt forest, with Grey Gum, Spotted Gum, Brush Box and Tallowood. There is also a patch of rainforest where Buhot Creek runs into Tingalpa Creek. Much of the remnant vegetation is protected as part of the Brisbane Koala Park, which aims to protect the 3000-5000 koalas southeast of Brisbane. Greater Gliders and Squirrel Gliders also live there.
In the 1981 Wildlife Survey, Burbank recorded 49 species of birds, including many water and wading birds, six species of reptiles and nine species of native animals, including echidnas, bandicoots, koalas, wallabies and possums.
Burbank remains a relatively undeveloped suburb and is recognised as a key part of Brisbane’s green belt.
Camp Hill
Postcode: 4152
Census Population: 9,227*
*Note: Only part of Camp Hill is in the Chandler Ward
Camp Hill takes its name from the fact that farmers visiting Brisbane from Cleveland, Redland Bay and Mt. Cotton used to camp there overnight. It is one of the oldest suburbs in Brisbane. From the 1850’s until the 1870’s, Camp Hill was dotted with vineyards and dairy farms. Many of the settlers were German and the majority had either received grants or got their land for 2/6 an acre. In 1880 the land boom forced most of these residents to sell and the residential area grew.
Capalaba West
Postcode: 4157
Census Population: 340 residents
Capalaba means ‘place of the scrub (or ringtail) possum' in the Yugarabul language. Originally there were three settlements in the area, Capalaba West, one of the three, was known as The Rocks. However, by the 1880s the area was known as Capalaba, although the name was not officially recognised until 1927.
Capalaba West is bounded by a curve in Tingalpa Creek and much of the land near the creek is low-lying and tidal. The creek was originally full of mudcrabs, cod, bream and other fish. Margaret Mussig remembers there being many koalas, wallabies and a variety of ducks in her childhood.
The area was important for timbergetting, which seriously affected the habitat of native animals, as did the demand for native animal fur, including koalas. Later residential development further reduced vegetation and native habitats. The original vegetation can still be seen in the sections of uncleared land and parklands. Here there is remnant eucalypt forest, which proliferated in the region, paperbark forest where it is wetter and mangroves fringing the creek. Wallabies, wader birds, snakes and bearded dragons remain common.
Carina Heights
Postcode: 4152
Census Population: 5,757
Carina was the name of the daughter of Mr Ebenezer Thorne who was a local Councillor. Mr Thorne also owned land in the district in the 1870’s.
Carindale
Postcode: 4152
Census Population: 12,639
For most of its history, Carindale was part of Belmont. In the 1850’s, the area was significantly cleared by men gathering timber until the 1860’s and 1870’s when sugar cane was grown. This area was used to grow bananas, pineapples, grapes, tomatoes and potatoes and was also home to wool scours, a fellmongery and dairy farms. The name is derived from the suburb of Carina (see Carina) and began to be officially used for the suburb at the request of the Carindale Community Progress Association in 1980. Since the development of the Carindale Estate in 1976 and the Carindale Shopping Centre in 1979 Carindale has grown exponentially and is now home to a population of more than twelve thousand people.
Chandler
Postcode: 4155
Census Population: 940
Chandler was named after Sir John Beale Chandler who was Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1940 to 1952 (see Name Derivation). The suburb is best known for housing the Sleeman Sports Centre which was a major venue used in the twelfth Commonwealth Games in 1982.
Gumdale
Postcode: 4154
Census Population: 982
Before European settlement, it is thought that Gumdale formed part of the tribal lands for the Nunuckul, Nuighii and Goerentul tribes whose land extended from the Bunya mountains in the north, west to the upper reaches of the Brisbane River, south to where the border is and east to the bay islands. They were hunters and fishermen and almost certainly camped along the banks of Tingalpa Creek on their way through.
In the infancy of European settlement, Gumdale lacked the industry, rich red soil, railway lines and close proximity to the bay, which characterised and contributed to the success of the surrounding suburbs such as Redlands.
Growing crops on a large scale was not an option as Gumdale had poor soil that was either clay based or sandy. Timber getting and family run poultry farms were virtually the only early forms of industry. In these early days many families lived in tents or tin and bag shacks.
In the Mid 1880's, there were six large sheep and cattle leases in Gumdale, including the Greencamp and Grassdale leases. Huge segments of Gumdale were owned by a small number of families in the very early days. The Molle, Tilley and Drury families were the biggest landowners.
Throughout its colourful history Gumdale has had several name changes. Unofficially known as Mossdale after a large sheep property in the area, the name was later changed to Grassdale in 1885, owing, it is believed, to the large number of grass trees growing in the area. After it came to light that there was another town in Australia by that name the Council considered calling the area Yubba Gubba. This name was vetoed by the students of Grassdale State School who put forward the suggestion of Gumdale which was finally settled upon for obvious reasons in 1941.
During the Depression Years some of the men of the area worked at the meatworks, the brickworks or the fertilizer factory at Murarrie. In 1975 parts of Gumdale were divided into four smaller suburbs. The central area remained Gumdale, with the northern side named Wakerley, Ransome on the eastern side with Chandler to the South.
Gumdale is still home to many families who have lived here for generations and a mix of new residents who have moved to the suburb to take advantage of its unique acreage lifestyle. In order to protect this lifestyle for future generations, The Brisbane City Council has zoned Gumdale as an Environmental Protection Area. This zoning limits the development that can occur in the suburb and ensures that significant vegetation in the area is protected.
(Source: From Saplings and Kero Tins: A Peak at Gumdale’s Past, by Robyn Nalder)
Mackenzie
Postcode: 4156
Census Population: 4,072 (includes Belmont)
Mackenzie was officially bounded as a suburb in 1975. It was named after Colonel W. Mackenzie who owned a sugar mill in Scrub Road that served the area. Mackenzie is still primarily a rural suburb, which is dominated to the north by Mt Petrie, which rises to 170 m. Mount Petrie was named after Andrew Petrie, who was reputedly the first white person to climb it. With a group including Major Cotton, the new Commandant of the penal settlement, he visited Redbank. When returning, they decided to cut through to Oxley Creek, but they got badly lost for two days, and it was not until Petrie climbed Mt Petrie and could see the river and Lytton, that they got their bearings. For many years, a tree carved with A. Petrie was on the top of the mountain, but later a trigonometrical station was built on the top of the hill and the tree was cut down.
The majority of urban development in Mackenzie is within the Gainsborough Park Estate, which was developed during the 1990s.
Mansfield
Postcode: 4122
Census Population: 9,357*
*Note: Only part of Mansfield is in the Chandler Ward
The relatively new suburb of Mansfield takes its name from Sir Alan Mansfield who was born in Brisbane in 1902 and whose family owned land in Gumdale. Sir Mansfield was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1958 and, as a lawyer, represented Australia on the United Nations War Crimes Commission. He was appointed as the Governor of Queensland and also as the Chancellor of the University of Queensland in 1966.
Mt Gravatt East
Postcode: 4122
Census Population: 9,352*
*Note: Only part of Mt Gravatt East is in the Chandler Ward
Mount Gravatt was named by a surveyor called Dickson around 1840, after Lieutenant George Gravatt, who was Commandant at Moreton Bay for three months in 1839. Mount Gravatt East was first gazetted as a suburb in 1967.
Mount Gravatt and Mount Gravatt East owe their development to dray and coach traffic along Logan Road. In the 1850s a Mr Wilson began a sheep run in the area, and by the end of the decade, many other people were running sheep there. Cobb and Co began a run through Mount Gravatt in 1864. In 1865 the government held the first major auction of land along Slacks Road in the Mount Gravatt district. German immigrants who began growing fruit and some general agriculture bought much of the land.
Frederick Wecker owned a great deal of the land on the slope, and Steigmann opened a winemaking business near the corner of Logan and Shire roads. Conrad Glindemann bought land and began Glindemann's Heighfield Dairy. In 1865 a postal line from Brisbane to Logan passed through Mount Gravatt and in 1877 a post office was established. The first school in the area was opened in 1874, with John Stewart Beech as headmaster.
While general farming and fruit growing dominated Mount Gravatt East until the 1890s, land for homes in the Overton and Blantyre estates was sold in the 1880s and in 1891, respectively. At that time other development took place, particularly around Creek and Broadwater roads. In 1885 the first section of railway to Beenleigh was opened and extended to Southport in 1889. This drew traffic away from the Mount Gravatt area and hampered its development. The Cobb and Co service stopped and a horse-drawn bus service into town or to the Woolloongabba terminus was established. Development had stopped by the end of the First World War, although afterwards the government resumed a lot of land for returned soldiers and several poultry farms were founded.
Throughout the 1920s Mount Gravatt was still a village isolated from Brisbane. Census figures showed that from 1871 to 1911 the population only increased from 46 to 155. In 1929 the Sunday Mail described it as 'a prosperous general, poultry and dairy farming district, with occasional fruit orchards and piggeries'.
Very little development happened in the area until after the Second World War, when the Housing Commission began building from Creek Road to Cavendish Road, to meet the housing shortage, and the Chester Housing Schemes began. In 1949, George Chester bought twenty-five acres [10.1 hectares] of land at Mount Gravatt and cut it into 100 lots. In seven months he had ninety-five houses and thirteen shops built. Over the next ten years he built a multitude of houses, starting a massive rush of residents to the area. The first water supply was in 1950 and the arrival of the tram in 1951 further accelerated growth. In 1950 there were only 249 pupils enrolled in the school, but by 1960 there were 1,160. In 1970, after six years of planning and construction, the Garden City Shopping Centre opened in Upper Mount Gravatt, and the spread of the area was ensured.
Rochedale
Postcode: 4123
Census Population: 1,246
Rochedale was named after Mr W. Roche, who took up 300 acres in the area in the 1870s. After the First World War a meeting was held concerning the need for a local post office. This would require a local name and the name Rochedale was agreed on.
Rochedale is generally a low-lying flat suburb, with Bulimba Creek forming its eastern boundary and Priest Gully part of its western. Several smaller tributaries of these creeks also cross the suburb.
Settlement at Rochedale began around 1865, when the first settlers moved into the area to farm the rich alluvial soil. At the end of the nineteenth century, most of the area was dedicated to farming. By 1888, most of the land in the suburb was in private hands, but most landholders owned several large blocks, so the population was very small. The Gardner family bought nearly half the suburb. Closer settlement began around the start of the twentieth century as market gardens became established in the region. Tropical fruits and vegetables were the major crops. In the early 1920s the large estates were broken into small blocks, which continued to operate as farms. When the large Roche estate was broken up some farmers moved in to use the rich soil.
In 1931 Rochedale state School opened with 27 pupils. In 1965, the ’Summit’ estate offered 24 allotments on the higher part of the suburb. From then, the real estate developers followed in the farmers path and the Rochedale area became covered in large residential estates, specifically designed for young families. In 1973 three quarters of the population was under 35 and all he houses in the centre were only five years old. Rochedale grew fast until the mid nineties. From 1991 to 1996, the population fell slightly from 1285 to 1252.
In 2003, the Brisbane City Council announced that land in the Rochedale area would be re-zoned to create a new residential community for more than 10,000 people. Planners were appointed to work with Council and the community to develop a Draft Master Plan for the Rochedale Urban Community. Following more than 2 years of work, the Council approved the Draft Master Plan in December 2005. Further consultation on the draft Master Plan was conducted during 2006 before the final Master Plan received approval from both the Council and the State Government.
Whites Hill
Robert White arrived in Queensland in 1863 and moved to Brisbane ten years later. Mr White, a joiner by trade, purchased a portion of land in the then Parish of Bulimba where he built a slab house on the northern centre of the hill. He also built a milking yard and piggery. Later, Mr White constructed a road to the summit of the hill and also built a public car park.
By the 1920’s, the White family had transformed their quite isolated existence into a very popular meeting place. Groups of people came to the area by horse drawn vehicles, the dog box on the Belmont Railway and eventually by cab service when the tram was extended to Cavendish Road. The area came to be known as Whites Hill and was a popular spot for picnics and weddings. The family provided meals, telescopes and the camera obscura, a device which shows the images of external objects in their natural colours on a surface.
The area known as Whites Hill Reserve has been owned by the Brisbane City Council since 1929 and is now used for sports fields.
Information and references taken from A Living History of Pine Mountain Road by Jim Harrison, Peter Harrison and Alice Looke; Local History of Belmont & Carindale from the Belmont & District Historical Society; the Coorparoo & Districts Heritage Group, the Ourbrisbane website (www.ourbrisbane.com.au) and the BRISbites website (http://www.brisbites.com/), and 'Saplings and Kero Tins: A Peak at Gumdale’s Past', by Robyn Nalder
*based on 2001 Census http://www.abs.gov.au
More about our ward:
Please visit www.ourbrisbane.com and www.brisbites.com to find out more and updated information about the suburbs in the Chandler ward.
Electoral Information:
Chandler Ward Representatives:
SCHRINNER, Adrian (Liberal) 2005-Present
CALTABIANO, Michael (Liberal) 1996-2005
McDOUGALL, Graeme (Liberal) 1988-1996*
Note: The Chandler Ward was created following a redistribution of Ward
boundaries in 1994. Before the Chandler Ward was created, Graeme McDougall
served as the Alderman for Carina Ward.
2008 General Election (15 March 2008)
Final Results:
Adrian Schrinner: 15,796 votes (71.19%)
Peter Lovegrove: 6,393 votes (28.81)
2005 Chandler Ward By-Election (10 September 2005)
Final Results:
Adrian Schrinner: 10,960 votes (62.35%)
Dimitri Helios: 6,617 votes (37.65%)
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