Moggill

Moggill is a suburb in the west of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Moggill is a suburb in the west of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is about 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the Brisbane CBD. It comprises a mixture of small-lot and acreage residential homes along with a small number of remaining farms. Moggill is located in the Parish of Moggill within the County of Stanley, Queensland.

Garumngar (also known as Dalla, Garumga. See also Wakka Wakka related languages/dialects) is a language of the Upper Brisbane River catchment. The Garumngar language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Ipswich, Brisbane, Somerset and Moreton Bay Regional Councils, particularly the towns of Dayboro and Esk extending east towards Moggill.The Brisbane River and Moggill Creek were rich in resources and evidence of Aboriginal occupation includes Bora grounds near the Moggill Pony Club and O'Brien Road. Another Bora ring is located at the end of Riversleigh Road.

John Oxley the first European visitor, named it Termination Plains when he landed in the Priors Pocket area in 1823. In 1848 a profitable coal mine owned by John Williams commenced operation. In 1846 the first paddle steamer service from Brisbane to Ipswich began, travelling along the Brisbane and Bremer rivers past Moggill. At least eight steamers operated between 1846 and 1875, the trip taking four to seven hours. Previously a row boat operated by convicts would take around 12 hours from Brisbane to Ipswich and punts flowing with the tide would take several days. In 1849 The Moreton Bay Courier noted that land near "Moghill Creek" might be soon put up for sale, with settlers who arrived on The Fortitude given some assistance to help with a purchase. The first survey of Moggill was in 1851, with a township planned in the vicinity of Weekes Rd, however it was later established near the present school. A cemetery was established in 1865. The Moggill State School opened on 12 February 1866, with 53 students enrolled, and an average attendance of 31-24 boys and 13 girls. The school began as a two-room schoolhouse and remaining that way until 1970 when the population of the area started expanding rapidly.

In 1868 the Moggill Methodist Church was built at the corner of Moggill Road and Kangaroo Gully Road. Originally it had neither lining or ceiling, and had a shingle roof and cedar window frames.The church remains on the grounds of the Moggill Uniting Church.

In 1877 Moggill and the Moggill residents were described thus in The Queensland Times newspaper:"The Moggill farmers are a well-to-do class, not with standing the fact that their holdings are comparatively small, and they are dependent entirely on agricultural pursuits, there being no outside country to be made use of for the running of cattle. The land is, for the most part, composed of rich alluvial deposits, and its quality is such that it is very hard to exhaust it. There are parts of the district where the soil is patchy, and there are places where it is rather difficult to cultivate, but these disadvantages are more than counterbalanced by the richness of the remaining portions, from which crops of more than average yield are taken each successive season."The Moggill punt (ferry) was important as a means of transport across the Brisbane River. In 1884 the ferry sank and was eventually replaced with a hand pulled, rope guided ferry.In 1886 Colledge Brothers, a contracting firm, secured a 10-year lease with the option of a further 10-year extension from Thomas Sugars to open the Moggill Blue Metal Quarry, four miles above the Bremer River, employing 20 men. in 1924 the Moggill Quarry was purchased by the Gravel, Sand and Metal Supply Ltd. for £4500. Mr J Anstead became the works manager.In 1973 Moggill was divided into three suburbs, the other two were named Anstead and Bellbowrie. The name of the creek is derived from 'Magil', from Yuggera (Jagera) Nation language meaning water dragon.

After 2004, the traditional Moggill pineapple farms, situated on the rich red clay soils around Witty Road and Priors Pocket Road, began to be subdivided for housing. There was vocal opposition to the subdivision from Moggill residents, who wished to preserve the rural amenity of the area with larger block sizes. In spite of this, the average block size of the new estates is around 700 m².

Moggill has been administered by six local government entities:

Ipswich-Bundamba between 1876 and 1878 (Qld Electoral Rolls 1860–1884)

Toowong Division between 1879 and 1880;

Indooroopilly Division between 2 June 1880 and 31 March 1903;

Indooroopilly Shire between 31 March 1903 and 8 December 1917;

Moggill Shire between 8 December 1917 and 1 October 1925 and

Brisbane City Council from 1 October 1925.