Samford, Queensland

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Samford Queensland
Looking onto C.S.I.R.O land (Samford)
Postcode:	4520
Location:	21 km from Brisbane
LGA:	Pine Rivers Shire Council
State District:	Ferny Grove
Federal Division:	Dickson

Samford is a valley community located in South East Queensland, Australia. It is roughly 21 k.m. north west of Brisbane and it is about a half-hour drive from the city centre. It is currently in the local government area of Pine Rivers

The D'Agular Mountain Range (Camp Mountain, Mt Nebo, Mt Glorious) as well as the House Mountain Range more or less encircles the valley. While Samford supports a substantial population from the surrounding areas, itself has a popultaion of only 448. ("2001 Census)

The villiage contains a mix of historical buildings, restaurants and shops. A popular tourist attraction is the Samford Historical Museum as well as the Slab Hut Gallery, an information centre and art gallery located in John Scott Park at the center of town.

1 History
2 Sports
3 Education
4 See also
5 References

[edit] History

Samford's very first inhabitants were an aboriginal tribe which belonged to the Waka language group, whose territory also included the upper Brisbane River and the South Burnett. While there are no aboriginal tribes still living in Samford, their history remains by means of the very well maintained Boara Ring at Wight's Mountain, the burial site near Upper Camp Mountain Road and the records kept at the local historical museum.

Although they're closer to Brisbane than most acreage areas in the Pine Rivers Shire, the secluded valleys of the upper reaches of the South Pine River were not settled by Europeans until the mid 1850s. After the subdivision of farms into acreage homesites commenced in the 1960s, and substantial upgrading of road access more recently, Samford has became a desirable rural residential address and hundreds of residents now commute from their homes to work in Brisbane.

This first business to open in the samford area was a shop and bakehouse which was owned and built by Alex Lawson.

In 1919 the O'Hara's Hotel or the samford hotel shifted to its current location where it still operates from today, the location where the hotel previsously operated from before the moved was then brought and used by the C.S.I.R.O .In the late 1950s, this hotel again changed its name from the Samford Railway Hotel to the Golden Valley Hotel.

By 1908, banana growing on the steep ridges at the foot of the ranges had become one of the most important industries in the Samford district. After World War 1, the Government created additional small farms so that returned servicemen with limited capital were able to get started in the industry. During 1926 and 1927, more bananas were consigned to southern markets from Samford Railway Station than any other railway station in Queensland. This success was short-lived, however, as a virus which had wiped out banana growing in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, 'Bunchy Top' disease, finally affected the crop and was the primary reason for the decline of the industry in the Pine Rivers Shire.