Kangaroo Point

Kangaroo Point is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Kangaroo Point is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Kangaroo Point had a population of 8,063 people.The suburb features two prominent attractions, the Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point Cliffs. At the eastern margins the Captain Cook Bridge marks the start of the Pacific Motorway.

Before British settlement, Kangaroo Point was settled by the Turrbal people. It is one of the earliest suburbs settled in Brisbane and subsequently, is one of Brisbane's oldest suburbs, rich in history and character. It had a reputation for violent and rowdy street gangs around the 1900s, with a number of street riots.In 1823, explorer John Oxley described Kangaroo Point as a "jungle, fringed with mangroves with the higher land open forest, covered with grass". During the time of the subsequent convict settlement (1825–1841), Kangaroo Point was cleared and used for cultivation of crops. Subsequently, the area was opened up for free settlement, the first land sales taking place on 13 December 1843. Among the early purchasers was Captain John Clements Wickham, the Police Magistrate and later Government Resident. Surveyor James Warner built the first house at Kangaroo Point in 1844.Kangaroo Point's first school was opened in 1861 by the Church of England. It came under the control of the Board of Education in 1867 and consisted of a boys department and a girls department. A separate Girls and Infants school opened on 2 March 1874. This was replaced by the Kangaroo Point Girls School and the Kangaroo Point Infants School which both opened on 20 January 1890. The Kangaroo Point Boys School, Girls School and Infants School closed on 28 April 1950 and amalgamated to become the Kangaroo Point State School. The Kangaroo Point State School closed on 30 June 1965. The site was subsequently redeveloped as a TAFE college, on the corner of River Terrace and Main Street. In January 2010 this site was redeveloped into parkland extending the Kangaroo Point Cliffs Park (27.4753°S 153.0352°E? / -27.4753; 153.0352? (Kangaroo Point Cliffs Park)).In September 1865, 42 allotments of portion 35 of Kangaroo Point were advertised to be auctioned for sale by Arthur Martin & Co. A map advertising the auction contained a diagram of subdivisions 1 to 31 situated between Ipswich Road and the Brisbane River.St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was founded by Mary MacKillop and opened on 19 March 1870 in Hubert Street in One Mile Swamp (now Woolloongabba) with 70 students. In January 1871, the school relocated to Leopold Street (not Leopard Street) at Kangaroo Point into an unlined timber building with a shingle roof on land provided by James Toohey. In 1879 the Sisters of Mercy took over the operation of the school, following a dispute between MacKillop and the Catholic Bishop of Brisbane.In 1887, the Yungaba Immigration Centre was built on Main Street at Kangaroo Point to replace the poor facilities at the existing centre in William Street.In June 1888, six allotments, being subdivisions 1 to 6 of subdivisions 7 to 11 of portions 68 in the Parish of Kangaroo Point, on Walmsley Street between the Garden Point Ferry and Main Street were advertised to be auctioned for sale by Simon Fraser & Son. A map advertising the auction contained a local sketch by the surveyors, Hamilton & Raff.In September 1928, 19 subdivisions adjacent to the Brisbane River and titled "Town Reach River Sites" were advertised to be auctioned for sale by Isles, Love & Co Limited. A map advertising the auction includes an aerial photograph and a panoramic photograph of the area.For many years the suburb was dominated by the factories of heavy engineering businesses, particularly those involved in the maritime industry, such as Evans Deakin, Buzzacott & Co and Evans, Anderson, Phelan & Co. Evans Deakin built the largest ship ever constructed on the Brisbane River, the 66,000 tonne oil tanker Robert Miller, which became adrift in the river during the 1974 Brisbane flood. The last vessel to be built by Evans Deakin was an oil rig called Southern Cross. The company vacated the site in 1976, with it later being redeveloped for high-rise accommodation.

Stone was quarried from the cliffs and used as building material. Until the 1930s, Evans Anderson & Phelan built steam locomotives at their Kangaroo Point works for Queensland Railways, however their works were not located near a railway, so the completed locomotives were delivered along Main Street on temporary track.

Until the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, the Queensland Navy's main storage facility was located in the suburb. The first ship-based radio transmission in Australia was made between HMAS Gayundah and the buildings in 1903. The naval stores buildings were occupied by the Royal Australian Navy until 1959, and then by the Australian Army until 1984. The heritage-listed buildings are now used by an adventure company focussing on river activities and rock climbing.

The opening of the Story Bridge (27.4693°S 153.0359°E? / -27.4693; 153.0359? (Story Bridge (Kangaroo Point end))) in July 1940 was a significant development in the suburb. Trolleybuses operated by the Brisbane City Council linked the suburb with Fortitude Valley via the Story Bridge from 1953 to 1969, running along Main Street from Woolloongabba and other eastern suburbs.

On 20 July 1998, the LDS Church announced that its Brisbane temple would be built in Kangaroo Point. There were delays due to negotiations with the Brisbane City Council over certains about the temple's height, floodlighting and parking arrangements. On 26 May 2001, Kenneth Johnson presided at the groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication. Construction of the temple began in November 2001 and took 18 months. A public open house was held from 10 May through 7 June 2003 allowing local residents to view the temple prior to its dedication (after which it was open only to church members). The temple was dedicated on 15 June 2003 by LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley. The 10,700-square-foot (990 m2) temple features two ordinance rooms and two sealing rooms.In 2004 2% of sex workers in Queensland were street prostitutes operating in inner Brisbane suburbs such as Kangaroo Point.In the 2016 census, Kangaroo Point had a population of 8,063 people.

Kangaroo Point is a popular recreation spot, conveniently close to the city and the South Bank Parklands. The Kangaroo Point Cliffs, situated on the east bank of the city bend of the Brisbane River north of the Maritime Museum, opposite Riverstage and the Queensland University of Technology at Gardens Point. The Look-out at Kangaroo Point is also included as one of the stops of Brisbane Transport's City Sights bus service. Kangaroo Point is also home to one of less than 200 Mormon temples in the world {as of August 2015}. Kangaroo Point is also home to Ellis Street, one of the 20 steepest hills in Brisbane according to Brisbane City Council. Kangaroo Point is also home to the more-than-160-year-old St Mary's Anglican Church.

The cliffs are a popular picnic, rock climbing and abseiling site. The steepness of the cliffs was increased by quarrying operations which mined the volcanic rock or rhyolite lava flows which form the cliffs. The lava was deposited in the Triassic Period about 230 million years ago and filled up an ancient river valley. They currently form the banks of the Brisbane River.

The Story Bridge is a prominent landmark. It is able to be climbed with authorised tourist groups and provides the main means of access to the north of Brisbane. Directly under the bridge is the Story Bridge Hotel, and Yungaba, one of Brisbane's most unusual and iconic landmarks.The Kangaroo Point Natural History Project was implemented by the council in 2013 to recognise the contribution by some of Queensland's pioneering scientists and researchers from the area. Along a heritage trail through the CT White and James Warner parks are a series of signs and sculptures to commemorate their lives and work: Cyril Tenison White (government botanist), Frederick Manson Bailey (colonial botanist), Silvester Diggles (naturalist), Oscar Werner Tiegs (entomologist and zoologist), James Warner (surveyor), and Harry Oakman (landscape artist).