Redland City

Redland Shire is in the south east of Queensland, spread along the southern coast of Moreton Bay covering of 539 square kilometres. Sandwiched between the burgeoning cities of Brisbane to the north, Logan to the west and the Gold Coast to the south, it is part of the fastest growing area in Queensland and one of the fastest growing in Australia¹. An attractive area with reasonably safe boating and a pleasant rural hinterland, it had an estimated population of 120,371 in 2002, four times the number of residents it has as a sleep rural community 25 years ago . An increasing proportion of these new residents are retirees from the southern states of Australia.

The Islands

Although 95% of the population resides on the mainland grouped around the major centres at Capalaba, Cleveland and Victoria Point over six thousand have chosen to live on six islands in Moreton Bay--North Stradbroke, Karragarra, Lamb, Russell, Macleay and Coochiemudlo.

Economy

Redland Shire has a range of industries² on the mainland including food and beverage processing, white goods( Fisher & Paykel Manufacturing) and specialist manufacturing. In primary production, Redland hosts 30% of Queensland's poultry industry production and produces 18.9% of its sweet potatoes. It has a number of big plant nurseries geared to the export market and a significant cultivation of cut flowers. With the increasing proportion of retirees retirement and aged care facilities, professional and general services have become major employment businesses. Tourism is rapidly becoming a key industry. North Stradbroke Island, one of the world's largest sand islands is a major drawcard for visitors despite most of the south of the island being tied up in sandmining leases and water catchments. Small businesses represent two thirds of the economy; nearly 16 percent of the Shire's workforce is self-employed. With the increase in population a significant part of the workforce are in the building trades constructing new homes. Other industries include local government, government department regional offices, and government services such as those associated with health and education.

History

The people of the Quandamooka have lived on and around what is now the Redland Shire for tens of thousands of years. Europeans came to Moreton Bay with the desire to expand the British trading empire as Australia was a good source of timber and other resources. Moreton Bay was also used as a penal settlement to take pressure off southern parts of the continent. As a result the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established in 1824 at Redcliffe Point, moving some months later to what is now Brisbane. By 1842 the Moreton Bay district was opened to free settlers, with immigration actively encouraged. Land was offered for sale, particularly in potential farming and grazing areas. The Redlands area became very attractive, partly because it was on or near major waterways and partly because of the rich soil.

Cleveland

The administrative centre of Redlands, Cleveland was established in 1851. Argument for and against the continuing transportation of convicts to Moreton Bay was raging at the time, and many thought that this town should become the port for the free settlers in the Moreton Bay region. Henry Stuart Russell says that Governor Sir George Gipps decided to visit Cleveland before proceeding to Brisbane to make a decision about the port but had to wade through extensive mud flats to get ashore. 'Floundering and flopping through such a hundred years of deep nastiness was quite enough to settle the question between Brisbane and its rival.' Farmers and graziers began moving to other parts of the Redlands, with the first land sales in Capalaba in 1853 attracting farming and especially dairying families. Large tracts of land in the southern part of the Shire were leased for cotton and sugar, especially around Redland Bay and on the southern Moreton Bay islands. By the 1870s much of the best arable land on the mainland and the islands was occupied, first by cotton growers and then by sugar plantations. Timbergetters were also active, particularly in the southern and western areas.

Farming

By the late 1880s sugar was being replaced by fruit crops, especially pineapples, bananas, custard apples and citrus. The soil dictated the produce: the red soil areas were best for crops; the poorer grey soiled areas, especially in the west of the district, suited dairy farmers. On the islands, Europeans and Aborigines operated very successful dugong, oyster and other fishing enterprises. In 1889 the railway came through the north of the district, terminating at Cleveland. The train also made commuting to the city possible, and many early subdivisions took place along the railway line. In addition, various businesses were established to cater for the holiday trade. By the turn of the century the district had a solid reputation as a producer of fine fruits and vegetables, with dairy farms and animal husbandry located in the north of the Shire. Small crop farming was the major economic activity in Redland Shire until well after World War II. Just before the war, poultry became an important industry and, to a lesser extent, pig farming. Sand mining began on North Stradbroke Island in the early 1950s and continues to this day.

From rural to urban

A major spur for the change from a rural to urban development was the building of the Leslie Harrison Dam in 1968 on Tingalpa Creek beside the suburb of Capalaba.⁴ Town water was now available to the shire so over time, the Shire's farms have disappeared, replaced by subdivisions. Along with the growth have come the many services and industries required by major urban populations and accompanying businesses.

Environment

At the same time, the shire has become more aware of its heritage. The preservation of a range of natural areas or culturally significant sites has been undertaken including national and marine parks, reserves, wetlands, conservation areas and environmental parks. The Shire is recognised as the Koala Capital of Australia due to the number of koalas within the urbanised environment and keeps a close eye on the numbers. There is no where else in the world where so many people consistently interact with a natural population of koalas.

Russell Island scam

The development path has not always a smooth one. In the late 1970s a major realestate scandal broke on the southern Moreton Bay islands . Under no direct local government authority at the time and working off promises by the Queensland government that a bridge would be built to Russell Island and across to North Stradbroke, land developers cut up the land and sold off thousands residential blocks to buyers. Hundreds of those blocks were later found to be underwater at high tide by their new owners when they arrived to build their “places in the sun”. To bring some order, the southern Moreton Bay islands were subsumed under Redlands Shire in 1973 but the disputes arising from the subdivision have continued. The legendary Russell Island fraud conspiracy trial over the worst of the subdivisions ended in March 1983 without a verdict. Eight people had been accused of conspiring to defraud the public by deceitfully inducing people to buy land on Russell Island between 1968 and 1979. It was the longest fraud trial in the history of British justice.⁵ The Redland council has since retrieved hundreds of these blocks and is under constant pressure from some block owners to build a bridge to Russell while others want to heal the damage wrought by the developers.

Notes

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/30cf51a9a851f120ca256ec2007f13ba!OpenDocument

However, more uptodate projections can be found on the Redlands Planning Scheme Page 2 - Part 3 – Desired Environmental Outcomes, Division 2 – Strategic Framework. The Planning Scheme can be downloaded from the Redland Shire Council website http://www.redlands.qld.gov.au

1. Invest Australia: Redland Shire Council Profile 2002
2. Redland Council history timeline to 1950 http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/emplibrary/erinport%201950%20on%20no%20footnotes.pdf
3. Redland Council history timeline since 1950 [1]
4. “The Russell Island Land Fraud” in Grabosky, Peter (ed.) Sutton, Adam (ed.): Stains on a white collar, The Federation Press, 1989, Annandale, NSW.

External links

Redland Shire City Council (http://www.redlands.qld.gov.au).