| Greenslopes Brisbane, Queensland |
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| Population: | 7601 (2001 census) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 4120 | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 3 km² (1.2 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Location: | 6 km (4 mi) from Brisbane CBD | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Brisbane | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Greenslopes, South Brisbane | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Griffith | ||||||||||||
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Greenslopes (Australia Post postcode 4120) is a moderately sized suburb of the city of Brisbane, state capital of Queensland, Australia.
"Greenslopes" is also the name of a Queensland state electorate. The electorate contains only a small fraction of the suburb of the same name. The current Member for Greenslopes is Cameron Dick of the Australian Labor Party.
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Greenslopes lies 6 km southeast of the Brisbane central business district. There is some slight variety in the terrain, with low hills in the east and south sloping down to the flood plain of Norman Creek, which curls around the western and northern edges of the suburb on its way to join the Brisbane River at Norman Park.
The major roads are:
Stephens Mountain is one of Brisbane's largest hills. It is located in Greenslopes, between the hospital located on a ridge leading east from its highest point, and the Greenslopes busway station and the Pacific Motorway to the west. The hill is low and its highest points are still covered in scrub. Norman Creek drains the areas surrounding the mountain.
The suburb's population was 7683 at the 2001 Census. As an inner-city Brisbane suburb, it has moderate population density with numerous two- and three-story apartment blocks, the result of town planning changes over the past 25 years.
Stones Corner is characterised by a large Iraqi Muslim population, a sizeable Jewish community, a substantial Arab Christian population and a considerable Somali and other Northeast African constituency.
Further up the hill from Stones Corner into Greenslopes there is an increasing Indian and Pakistani population of substantially Punjabi (both East and West) constituency.
Apart from the numerous Anglican, Uniting Church and Roman Catholic parishes that are typical of Australian suburbs anywhere there is a synagogue, a Maronite (Lebanese) Catholic Church and an Antiochian (ie Syrian, but Eastern as opposed to Oriental) Orthodox church; somewhat to the south of Greenslopes close to Logan Road is a large and prosperous Sunni mosque with a multi-ethnic congregation.
The local shopping precinct is Greenslopes Mall on Logan Road. The Greenslopes Private Hospital, formerly Repatriation General Hospital (RGH) Greenslopes operated by the Commonwealth Government Dept of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for war veterans is located within the suburb. The hospital, surrounded by quiet streets, lies some distance from the nearest main roads, a factor which has caused friction with local residents over traffic, parking and redevelopment issues in recent years.
Other longstanding local landmarks are the Greenslopes State School and Greenslopes Bowls Club.
The Australian Institute of Applied Sciences AIAS College of Natural Medicine is the most notable educational institution in the area. Located on Beata St, the AIAS College is a major contributor, through its large number of on campus students, to the economic development of Stones Corner.
Stones Corner is a Greenslopes locality (formerly a separately designated suburb) known for its assortment of ethnic communities, ethnic retail food outlets and several sidewalk restaurants and cafés — Italian, Indian, Turkish and others — located on Logan Road near where it crosses Norman Creek.
The community is notable for its factory outlets and its longstanding large population of Indians, Iraqis and other Middle Easterners, Somali and other Northeast Africans and more recently, Punjabis, particularly of Sikh religious affiliation, who have flowed into the community as a result of recent changes in federal immigration policy.
Greenslopes shares Brisbane's humid sub-tropical climate, but the hot summer days are often mitigated by cooling afternoon breezes, especially in the higher areas. Winters are usually drier with very mild temperatures.
The name "Greenslopes" supposedly comes from the green pastures of Frederick Wecker, a German immigrant and the first settler in the district. Parts of the suburb were originally opened for settlement under names such as the Dunellan, Thompson and Mount Pleasant Estates. There is still a Dunellan Street in the suburb, adjacent to the state school.
Greenslopes formed part of Stephens Shire until its amalgamation with over 20 other local shires into Greater Brisbane in 1925. The shire's name can still be seen on a plaque on the bridge where Juliette Street crosses Norman Creek.
The Brisbane City Council operated trams along Logan Road, through Greenslopes until 13 April 1969. Until 1957 a tram line also operated along Chatsworth Road, branching off the Logan Road line at Greenslopes.
Many of the dwellings in the suburb of Greenslopes are 'character homes' of pre-war construction. Brisbane City Council purportedly recognises pre-war homes as being valuable to the identity of the suburb and enforces controls relating to the demolition and renovation of the original homes, whilst also ensuring that any new dwellings built in the suburb are reflective of traditional architecture and maintain and enhance the character of the streetscape. However, two- and three-story walk-up apartment buildings are increasingly the norm.