‘Wednesday Dec 3rd Calm and sultry. We passed a miserable night, mosquitoes and sandflies almost devoured us.’

NSW Surveyor General John Oxley wrote those comments in his field book with quill and ink on his first voyage of exploration of the Brisbane River in 1823. Not a particularly auspicious start for the European development of the suburb.

And it would be 30 years before the first land was offered for sale, 11 years after the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was disbanded and the Brisbane area opened for free settlement. All of the land had been sold by the time Queensland was established as a separate Colony in 1859.

Why so long ? Primarily because it was difficult to access, with a meandering route from Brisbane via Moggill, Burns, Indooroopilly and Swann Roads. This route to get you onto the only road running the length of the peninsula, ‘Carmody’s Road’, named after the family who settled the land now used as sports ovals for the University of Queensland. It is perhaps no surprise that rather than the rough tracks the Carmody family and their fellow early settlers used the river to get their produce to market.

Despite a flurry of speculative residential sub-division in the 1880’s, during which time the name ‘St Lucia’ was first used to describe the area, few houses were built and farming was the main activity until the decision was made to relocate the University from the city. Construction commenced in the late 1930’s and this triggered the development of the suburb as we know it today.

The St Lucia History Group comprises both life long residents and newcomers , who research, record and present the history of the suburb and the local area. Twenty of the Group’s Research Papers are available for browsing in the Local History Reference section of the Toowong Library. The book ‘An Introduction to the History of St Lucia’ can be purchased at The Book Bank at Toowong Village Shopping Center for just $10.00.

Anyone with an interest in the history of the local area is welcome to participate. Information on the Groups’ meetings and its researchers is available from the Toowong Ward Office.