Annerley has evolved from an area of dairy farms to become a very important hub connecting the south and east of Brisbane down towards Logan and across to Cleveland and Ipswich.
Early History and Settlement
In 1842, Brisbane was opened for free settlement. In the ensuing period of rapid development, Annerley became a vital part of the evolving jigsaw puzzle.
The establishment of Boggo Road in the 1850s created a vital connection between the One Mile Swamp (now known as Woolloongabba) and Ipswich Road via a pathway leading to the top of the Boggo ridge.
The Boggo area is where Annerley now lies.
Thomas Blacket Stephens was one of the earliest settlers in the area. After moving from Sydney in the early 1850s, he built his original house, Cumbooquepa, on a block of land on a ridge overlooking the Brisbane River to the north.
Cumbooquepa is a one-storey house built of masonry and timber, with terracota-tiled and corrugated iron hip roofs.
Cumbooquepa eventually became part of Somerville House.
In 1856, Mr Stephens acquired a 206-acre land in the Coorparoo area and another block of land on Ekibin Creek in 1857. The boundaries of these lands would later become Ekibin and Sexton Roads, respectively.
Mr Stephens later would go on to become one of Brisbane’s first orchardists in Brisbane’s south side. He established one of the earliest wool scour and tanneries in the district, which he built on Ekibin Creek.
The area at the junction of Boggo Road and Ipswich Road didn’t have an official name until 1892, when the members of Stephens Division Board with Honourable Digby Denham (later Premier of Queensland) officially named the district Annerley, after a town of the same name located in Surrey, England.
The Thompson Estate
Prior to the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859, Annerley belonged to the Parish of Yeerongpilly in the County of Stanley.
A survey conducted at the time defined the boundaries of the then-District of Boggo, a bustling area where a population of farmers and market gardeners thrived.
The boundaries were defined to include Ipswich road, the cemetery, Rocky Waterholes Creek, and the Brisbane River.
In 1859, additional blocks of land were sold to Joseph Thompson, James Toohey, and John Cockerill. After acquiring the land, Mr Thompson ventured into entrepreneurship, shipping 40,000 pine shingles to Melbourne.
Mr Thompson would then subdivide his paddocks in the mid-1880s to create the Thompson Estate.
Another significant residential estate established during the time is the St Kilda Estate, which is bounded by Annerley Road, Ipswich Road, and Cornwall Street.
Evolution of Public Transport
Instrumental to the introduction of public transport in Brisbane’s south side was John Soden. He was known for his horse-drawn omnibuses.
In 1879, he purchased Hardcastle’s Hotel, opposite the present-day Chardon’s Hotel, where he opened a small shop and established a mail delivery service.
The mail service initially ran between Brisbane and Rocky Waterholes (Rocklea) but residents soon requested him to expand his service into a regular public run.
In the early 1880s, Mr Soden did just that. At the height of his run, he had a total of 25 buses servicing his routes which included Highgate Hill, Boggo Road, Rocklea, and Mt. Pleasant (now Holland Park).
From horse-drawn buses, public transport moved to electric trams which began in Brisbane in 1897 and extended to Cornwall that same year.
By 1899, the service had expanded to Mary Street (Dudley Street) on Ipswich Road before further extending in 1914 to Chardon’s Corner.
The arrival of electric trams spurred the transformation of Annerley into a residential area.
The introduction of the railway line from South Brisbane to Corinda in 1884 also played a role in the suburb’s transformation by bringing more settlers into Annerley.
At the time, the closest station was Fairfield. In 1895, after the 1893 flood, the station was moved to its present location. Another station north of Annerley also opened at the present Dutton Park.
Some 19th- and 20th-century Development Milestones
A postal office was established at Boggo in 1880. It was named Boggo Post Office two years later, before it became Annerley Post Office in November 1892, following the official naming of the district to Annerley.
In 1886, Saint Philip’s Anglican Church was dedicated. A 1905 storm damaged the church, although it was later rebuilt and re-dedicated. The current church was consecrated in 1955.
Other churches established in the area include the Thompson Estate Methodist Church (1888), the Mary Immaculate (1914), and the Annerley Congregational Church (1925).
In 1871, Chardon’s hotel opened its doors at the corner of Cracknell Road and Ipswich Road.
In 1883, Princess Alexandra Hospital was opened, named after the wife of Queensland Lady Diamantina Roma, Bowen’s first governor.
In April 1888, The Thompson Estate Provisional School opened on Oxford Street. From 52 students, the school grew and expanded to a hall on Regent Street. After it moved to Waldheim St in 1893, it officially became a state school.
Other notable schools established in early Annerley include the Ipswich Road Convent School (1917), and Our Lady’s College (1964).
In 1957, the Annerley public library opened at 448 Ipswich Road. Designed in 1956 by architect James Birrell, it is now listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.
21st-century Annerley
From its dairy farm roots to its development as Brisbane transportation and migration patterns evolved, Annerley has established its place as a significant growth hub in the corridor connecting Brisbane’s south and east sectors.
Based on the 2021 census, Annerley has a population of 11,935 people. Majority of the population are between the ages of 24 to 33 years, with the median age at 33 years old.
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