Belmont, Queensland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belmont
Brisbane City Council, Queensland

Population:

3,648 (2006)^[1]

Established:

1894^[2]

Postcode:

4153

Location:

12 km (7 mi) from Brisbane GPO

LGA:

Brisbane City Council,
Chandler ward

State District:

Chatsworth

Federal Division:

Division of Bonner

Suburbs around Belmont:
Carina	Tingalpa	Wakerley
Carindale	Belmont	Gumdale
Carindale	Mackenzie	Chandler

Belmont is an outer suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is 12 km south-east of the CBD.

Belmont is named after the original estate in 1876, the estate grew and became the Belmont Shire in 1901^[3]. The shire originally covered a larger area than the current suburb.

While much of the suburb remains as undeveloped blocks of bush mixed with large rural properties, some areas have built-up residential estates. The public school for the area is Belmont State Primary School. The other notable place in the suburb is the Belmont Rifle Range, home to shooting events for the 1982 Commonwealth Games. To the south of the rifle range is Mount Petrie.

Two of Brisbane's main roads, the Gateway Motorway above and Old Cleveland Road underneath, cross at a large intersection in Belmont.

[edit] History

The local indigenous people hunted and camped within the creeks and hills of Belmont, both before and after white settlement of the area. A corroboree ground existed on banks of Bulimba Creek and mineral springs near Mount Petrie were a popular camping spot for the Aboriginal people.^[4]

Andrew Petrie had reported that fine timber existed in the area. The Hoop Pine brought timber cutters to the area in the 1850s and by the 1860s and 1870s the cleared land near the creeks and the rich soils from the cleared forests were used to grow sugar cane. As sugar production declined in Southern Queensland, farmers moved to growing pineapples, bananas and small crops including tomatoes, potatoes and grapes. Dairies and fodder farms were also located in the area.^[2]

August Charles Frederick Bernecker gave the name Belmont to his new estate outside of Brisbane and this name spread to the rest of the area. The Belmont Division was split from the Bulimba Division in 1894 and by 1901 this became the Belmont Shire. Belmont Shire was a larger area than Belmont today with parts now included in the suburb of Carindale and other suburbs.^[2]