Carina is an eastern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Carina had a population of 11,678 people.
Carina was originally inhabited by Murris; most likely the Jagera.
The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1850s, with the land mainly used for farming and timber-getting. The suburb takes its name from an estate on Creek Road constructed in the 1850s. The property belonged to Ebenezer Thorne, and was itself named after Thorne's daughter Kate Carina.
Growth occurred during the 1880s and early 1900s, when it was the main place of settlement in the Shire of Belmont.
In May 1889, (on what was then known as Coorparoo), 275 subdivided allotments of "Stanley Street Extended Estate" were advertised to be auctioned by James R. Dickson & Company. A map advertising the auction mentions free waggonettes from the Mart.
Carina State School opened on 30 January 1917. It is now within the suburb boundaries of Carindale.
The area remained mostly rural until after World War II, after which the construction of public housing contributed to a rapid population increase in the 1950s and 1960s.
One of the public housing projects in 1952 involved the use of prefabricated houses from Italy. Unfortunately one of the shipments was found to have infestations of the sirex woodwasp and all the timber on board had to be sprayed and fumigated before it could be used.
Between 1954 and 1969 the suburb was served by trolleybuses operated by the Brisbane City Council, which ran along Stanley Road, terminating at the intersection of Creek Road. Trams ran along Old Cleveland Road with the service terminating at Carina.
In November 1948, Archbishop James Duhig purchased a poultry farm as the site for a church and parish school. The parish was originally called "Our Lady of Graces and Blessed Martin de Porres, Belmont" but now the parish is known simply as Our Lady of Graces Parish while St Martin's Catholic Primary School is named after St Martin de Porres. The school opened on 25 January 1954.
Mayfield State School opened on 27 August 1956.
The Carina Library opened in 1966 with a major refurbishment in 2016.
St Otteran's Catholic School opened on 1959 and closed on 1978.
St Munchin's Infant School opened on 30 April 1961 and closed on 1978.
San Sisto College was established in 1961 by the Dominican Sisters with an initial enrolment of nine girls with teachers Sister Josephine, Sister Callista and Sister Jude. The school initiated operated at St Martin's School until the new convent was constructed in November 1961, allowing the school to operate from the old convent building. In 1963 construction commenced on purpose-built classrooms which opened in April 1964.
St Pauls Catholic Primary School closed on 1979.
Carina Police Station opened on 16 December 2011, the day after the closure of Camp Hill Police Station on 15 December 2011.
In the 2011 census, Carina had a population of 10,301 people, of whom 52.7% were female and 47.3% were male. The median age of the population was 34; 3 years younger than the Australian average. 71.6% of people living in Carina were born in Australia, with the next most common countries of birth being New Zealand (4.8%), England (3.3%), India (1.3%), South Africa (0.9%), and the Philippines (0.7%). 81.4% of people spoke English as their first language, while the other most common responses were Spanish (1.3%), Cantonese (1%), Italian (0.9%), Mandarin (0.8%), and Greek (0.6%).
In the 2016 census, Carina had a population of 11,019 people.
In the 2021 census, Carina had a population of 11,678 people.
History info courtesy of Wikipedia