Acacia Ridge is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Acacia Ridge had a population of 7,486 people.
The name Acacia Ridge derives from the number of Acacia species growing in the area.
In October 1884, 275 allotments of "Flemington Estate" were advertised for sale by T. Howling & Co. A map advertising the sale states that the estate was close to the Coopers Plains railway station and that coaches passed the estate every day.
Cooper's Plains Provisional School in 1869 opened on 1 April 1869, later becoming Cooper's Plains State School. On 10 July 1956, it was renamed Acacia Ridge State School. The school was at 1277 Beaudesert Road (27°34′52″S 153°01′31″E / 27.5811°S 153.0252°E). After the closure of Acacia Ridge State High School in 1997, Acacia Ridge State School relocated to the high school site in Nyngam Street, while the Murri School took over the Beaudesert Road site.
The suburb was established after World War II to house returning servicemen and their families. Many of the original post-war dwellings still stand today.
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church was established on 5 acres (2.0 ha) on land on the corner of Beaudesert and Mortimer Roads in Coopers Plains which was bought in April 1949 from Arthur Harper for £2250 by the parish priest of Moorooka, Father Flanagan. He also arranged for an old army hut to be relocated from the Archerfield Airport to the church site and spent £720 converting the building into a church. The church was officially dedicated on Sunday 26 March 1950 by James Duhig, the Archbishop of Brisbane, with about 150 people attending. Two further army huts were relocated to the site. One of them was used to establish Our Lady of Fatima Primary School which opened on 25 January 1954. At its opening, the school had 78 pupils taught by two Sisters of St Joseph led by Sister Ibar. On 5 June 1966, Archbishop Patrick Mary O'Donnell opened the new brick church building, with the former church building being used as a hall. On 24 January 1971, the new school was officially opened by Bishop Henry Joseph Kennedy with 8 classrooms, an office, a staff room and a sick room. By that time, there were 260 students and 7 staff.
Acacia Ridge Methodist Church was established in 1966. On the creation of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, it became the Acacia Ridge Uniting Church.
Watson Road State School opened on 23 January 1967.
Acacia Ridge State High School opened on 25 January 1971 and closed on 31 December 1997, when it amalgamated with Salisbury State High School to form the new Nyanda State High School. Acacia Ridge State High School was at 67 Nyngam Street (27°34′46″S 153°00′56″E / 27.5795°S 153.0155°E). Acacia Ridge State School was then relocated onto the Nyngam Street site.
The suburb was officially named and bounded on 11 August 1975.
St Alban's Anglican Church closed circa 1980. The church building relocated to the Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit in neighbouring Algester to be used as a parish hall.
The Aboriginal and Islander Independent Community School (also known as The Murri School) was founded on the initiative of Gungalu and Birri Gubba man Ross Watson. It was opened 1 January 1986 in a disused Catholic primary school in Highgate Hill. In 1995, the school relocated to a disused state school in Milton. In 1997, the school obtained its current site in Acacia Ridge, which was the original site of Acacia Ridge State School before its relocation to the site of the former Acacia Ridge State High School, after that school's closure.
In the 2011 census, Acacia Ridge had a population of 6,945 people.
In the 2016 census, Acacia Ridge had a population of 7,429 people, 49.8% female and 50.2% male. The median age of the Acacia Ridge population was 34 years, 3 years below the national median of 37. 61.6% of people living in Acacia Ridge were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 3.9%, India 3.1%, Philippines 2.3% and Vietnam 2%. 59.6% spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were 2.8% Somali, 2.6% Vietnamese, 2.4% Arabic, 1.8% Spanish, 1.8% Mandarin.
In the 2021 census, Acacia Ridge had a population of 7,486 people.
History info courtesy of Wikipedia
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