Centenary Suburbs

Initially, the area was largely used for grazing and dairy farming.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

The western part of the original land holdings that became the Centenary Suburbs were part of the Wolston Estate, consisting of 54 farms on an area of 3000 acres, offered for auction at Centennial Hall, Brisbane, on 16 October 1901.{{cite archive|first=|last=|item=Plan of the Wolston Estate|type=Map|date=1901|series=|file=|box=|collection=Collections|repository=|institution=State Library of Queensland|location=|item-url=https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/252490}} Wolston Estate is the property of M. B. Goggs, whose father obtained the land forty years previously in the 1860s and after whom Goggs Road is named.{{cite news |date=12 October 1901 |title=SALE OF WOLSTON ESTATE. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19158711 |access-date=21 May 2019 |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |location=Queensland, Australia |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LVIII |issue=13,651 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010081853/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19158711 |url-status=live }} Only three of the farms sold at the original auction.{{cite news |date=26 October 1901 |title=LATEST NEWS IN BRIEF. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21267705 |access-date=21 May 2019 |newspaper=The Queenslander |location=Queensland, Australia |page=780 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXI |issue=1353 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010081902/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/21267705 |url-status=live }}

The area was given its name by land developer Hooker Rex in 1959, Queensland's centenary year that marked its separation from New South Wales in 1859.[http://cshsoc.org.au/history-suburban-period/ Historical overview, Centenary Suburbs Historical Society website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226232853/http://cshsoc.org.au/history-suburban-period/ |date=26 February 2015 }} Originally the land was all known as Jindalee, indeed the 1967/68 Australian Scout Jamboree, held in what is now Jamboree Heights, is recorded as being held in Jindalee.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

From 1960 onwards Jindalee was progressively broken up into smaller suburbs, being:

• Jindalee
• Mount Ommaney
• Jamboree Heights
• Middle Park
• Westlake
• Riverhills
• Sumner

The area was severely damaged in the 1974 floods, including structural damage to the Centenary Bridge after a barge became stuck under the upstream side of the then two-lane bridge. The barge was deliberately holed using explosives and allowed to sink to reduce the floodwater pressure, before being refloated after the flood waters had receded and beached near Fig Tree Pocket to be cut up for scrap. The damage sustained by the bridge required its partial closure for repairs, prior to its duplication in 1980.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

While originally referring to new suburbs west of Centenary Highway, the new residential areas developed on the eastern side of that highway, namely Sinnamon Park and Seventeen Mile Rocks have been included within the Centenary suburbs since the {{CensusAU|2011}}. However, the mostly industrial suburb of Sumner is excluded.{{Census 2011 AUS|id=30401|quick=on|name=Centenary|access-date=16 June 2024}}

In the {{CensusAU|2016}}, the Centenary suburbs had a population of 32,529 people.{{Census 2016 AUS|id=30401|name=Centenary (SAL3)|quick=on|access-date=16 June 2024}}

In the {{CensusAU|2021}}, the Centenary suburbs had a population of 33,016 people.{{Census 2021 AUS|id=30401|name=Centenary (SAL3)|quick=on|access-date=16 June 2024}}

As residential expansion progressed, the 1990s saw the rise of community efforts to preserve riverfront bushland along the Brisbane River and encourage environmental protection of remnant natural areas in the Centenary Suburbs. The first groups which formed to forge this greater interest in grassroots environmental protection were:

• Save Our Riverfront Bushland (SORB), established Sep 1991;{{Cite web|url=http://www.sorb.org.au/|title=Save Our Riverfront Bushland (SORB)|last=Parker|first=Ed|website=www.sorb.org.au|access-date=12 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920224710/http://sorb.org.au/|archive-date=20 September 2017}}
• Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group, established1993;{{Cite web|url=http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/local-groups/9-westlake-riverhills-bushcare-group|title=CDEA - Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group|website=www.cdea.org.au|language=en-gb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010151/http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/local-groups/9-westlake-riverhills-bushcare-group|archive-date=13 December 2017|access-date=12 December 2017}} and
• Centenary and District Environment Action Inc, established 1996.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/|title=Centenary and District Environment Action Inc|website=www.cdea.org.au|language=en-gb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214124806/http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/|archive-date=14 December 2017|access-date=12 December 2017}}

Westlake-Riverhills Bushcare Group (WRBG) was the first community-based, volunteer-run bushland rehabilitation group to be established in the Centenary Suburbs. WRBG commenced operations in 1993 at its site at Pullen Reach,[http://sorb.org.au/maps/Pullen5k.pdf Map of WRBG site at Pullen Reach] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217051543/http://sorb.org.au/maps/Pullen5k.pdf |date=17 February 2017 }} under the auspices of Brisbane City Council through a program that came to be known as Habitat Brisbane.[https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/protecting-biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane Brisbane City Council - Habitat Brisbane program ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214124449/https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/protecting-biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane |date=14 December 2017 }}

By the late 1990s, additional local Habitat Brisbane bushland rehabilitation groups began to flourish, and by 2010 there were around a dozen such groups in the Centenary Suburbs and the surrounding south-western suburbs of Brisbane.[https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane/western-habitat-brisbane-groups BCC Habitat Brisbane - western groups] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216012948/https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane/western-habitat-brisbane-groups |date=16 December 2017 }}[https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/protecting-biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane/southern-habitat-brisbane-groups BCC Habitat Brisbane - southern groups] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216012948/https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/protecting-biodiversity-brisbane/habitat-brisbane/southern-habitat-brisbane-groups |date=16 December 2017 }}

In 2008, a community-based catchment group, Wolston and Centenary Catchments (WaCC), was formed.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wacc.org.au/|title=Wolston and Centenary Catchments|website=www.wacc.org.au|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929075934/https://www.wacc.org.au/|archive-date=29 September 2017|url-status=live|access-date=12 December 2017}} Since May 2014, WaCC has been operating from its base at the Pooh Corner Environment Centre (PCEC).Google Maps:

[https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Pooh+Corner+Environment+Centre,+100+Wolston+Rd,+Wacol+QLD+4076/@-27.5706863,152.933165,16z Pooh Corner Environment Centre (PCEC), 100 Wolston Rd, Wacol Qld 4076] This facility is located at the Wolston Road frontage to the Pooh Corner Bushland Reserve.See Pooh Corner in: [https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-venues/parks/parks-suburb/wacol-parks Brisbane City - Parks in Wacol] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010103/https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-venues/parks/parks-suburb/wacol-parks |date=13 December 2017 }}

The formation and activities of the above-mentioned groups in the Centenary Suburbs has fulfilled, in part, certain observations by conservation ecologist, Peter Young, who stated in 1990:

While it is unrealistic to suppose that there will be any large-scale rehabilitation or regeneration of land to something approaching its natural condition in the foreseeable future, some small tracts of land in the lower reaches (of the Brisbane River) deserve better care than they currently receive. ... Initiatives for the rehabilitation and care of such areas have to come from local communities, not government bodies, to be effective.{{cite book

| last = Young

| first = Peter

| editor1 = Davie, Peter

| editor2 = Stock, Errol

| editor3 = Low Choy, Darryl

| title = The Brisbane River - A Sourcebook for the Future

| trans-title =

| year = 1990

| publisher = Australian Littoral Society in association with the Queensland Museum

| location = Moorooka, Brisbane

| isbn = 978-0-7316-5440-6

| page = 89

}}

Indeed, Young specifically identified remnant vegetation pockets both within, and upstream of, the Centenary Suburbs, including a rainforest fragment then still present on a small tributary below Mt Ommaney.ibid. p. 87. That particular remnant vegetation fragment is adjacent to the site where the Jindalee Bushcare Group established and continues to operate. That group's site encompasses the Mount Ommaney walkway, which skirts the slope below the prominent hill that bears the same name, and is adjacent to Mount Ommaney Creek, near its confluence with the Brisbane River.[http://sorb.org.au/maps/JBGloc.pdf Map of Jindalee Bushcare Group site, at Mount Ommaney walkway] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217051545/http://sorb.org.au/maps/JBGloc.pdf |date=17 February 2017 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/local-groups/1-jindalee-bushcare-group|title=CDEA - Jindalee Bushcare Group|website=www.cdea.org.au|language=en-gb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223055109/http://www.cdea.org.au/cdea3/index.php/local-groups/1-jindalee-bushcare-group|archive-date=23 February 2017|access-date=16 December 2017}}

The following bus routes service all or part of the Centenary Suburbs:

• 103 - Mount Ommaney - Inala : Local via Darra (Every day) (BT)
• 106 - Mount Ommaney - Indooroopilly : Local via Sinnamon Park, Seventeen Mile Rocks, Oxley, Corinda, Sherwood, Graceville and Chelmer (Monday-Saturday) (BT)
• 450 - City - Riverhills : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Jindalee, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekends) (BT)
• 451 - Mount Ommaney - Darra Station : Link via Sinnamon Park (Weekdays - Peak Hours Only) (BT)
• 452 - Riverhills - Darra Station : Loop via Middle Park (Weekdays - Peak Hours Only) (BT)
• 453 - City - Mount Ommaney : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Jindalee (Weekdays) (BT)
• 454 - City - Riverhills : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays) (BT)
• 455 - City - Riverhills : Rocket via Legacy Way, Western Freeway, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 456 - City - Mount Ommaney : Rocket via Legacy Way, Western Freeway and Jindalee (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 457 - City - Riverhills : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway, Jindalee, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 458 - City - Mount Ommaney : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway and Jindalee. (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 459 - City - Riverhills : City Precincts via Coronation Drive, Western Freeway, Mount Ommaney, Jamboree Heights, Middle Park and Westlake (Weekdays - Peak Hours only) (BT)
• 460 - City - Forest Lake & Inala : CityXpress via Cultural Centre, Coronation Drive, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Mount Ommaney (Every day) (BT)
• N464 - City & Valley - Forest Lake : NightLink via Fortitude Valley, City, Milton, Toowong, Indooroopilly and Mount Ommaney (Late night Friday - Saturday only) (BT)

There are three state primary schools, one private primary school and one state high school in the Centenary suburbs, being:

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://centenarytoday.com.au/how-the-centenary-suburbs-came-to-be|title=How the Centenary suburbs came to be|website=Centenary Today}}
• {{cite web|url=https://cshsoc.org.au/ |title=Centenary Suburbs Historical Society Inc.}}