Mount Cotton is a rural locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Mount Cotton had a population of 7,302 people.
The area was colonised by Germans in the late 1860s after possible frontier wars with First Nations peoples. In the 20th century, poultry farms were established and in recent years the number of residential sub-developments has expanded.
Mount Cotton is named after the mountain that is in the area. It was named by Robert Dixon, a surveyor in the colony of Queensland. He named it after the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, Major Sydney Cotton.
In 1872, a Lutheran congregation formed in the area as the nearest Lutheran church was in Beenleigh. The congregation held its first service in the open air under a fig tree on Mr Heineman's land and later in his barn. 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land were purchased on the corner of the south-western corner of Mount Cotton Road and Wuduru Roads (now within the neighbouring suburb of Cornubia to the south, 27°39′32″S 153°14′02″E / 27.6590°S 153.2339°E). Three acres were cleared to build a church and establish a cemetery. In December 1875, Pastor Haussman dedicated the church to St Paul. The church was built in a traditional north German style with hand-made brick nogging within a timber frame. By 1941, the church building was showing signs of age and the congregation decided to have a new church, but there was some debate about the location. On Palm Sunday 19 March 1951, the last service was held in the old church, which was demolished. On Sunday 11 November 1951, Pastor M. Lohe (President of the Lutheran Church of Queensland) dedicated the second (and current) St Paul's Lutheran Church on the site where the 1872 first service was held. The cemetery beside the old church continued to be used and is now heritage-listed.
Mount Cotton Provisional School opened on 30 October 1876. On 1 January 1909, it became Mount Cotton State School. Descendants of some of the original students still attend the school.
The first local government in the area was the Tingalpa Divisional Board, established in 1880, becoming the Tingalpa Shire Council in 1903. The shire office was established at Mount Cotton with a new building in 1935. When the Shire or Tingalpa was abolished in 1949, the old Tingalpa Shire office became the Mount Cotton Community Hall.
An extension of the Cleveland railway line to Redland Bay and Mount Cotton was surveyed in 1889. The extension to Redland Bay was recommended by the Royal Commission into Public Works in 1922, but was never built.
On Saturday 15 November 1930, the Mount Cotton Public Hall was officially opened. The hall was 60 by 30 feet (18.3 by 9.1 m).
In 1933, the first chicken farm in the area was established.
The Mount Cotton Hillclimb opened in February 1968.
The Mount Cotton Drama Group was established circa 1975 and presented 142 productions in the Mount Cotton Public Hall before the group wound up in May 2018.
The Sirromet Winery on Mount Cotton Road opened in 2000. Although some grapes are grown at Mount Cotton, the winery has most of its vineyards on the Granite Belt where the climate is superior for grape growing.
In the 2011 census, Mount Cotton recorded a population of 4,804 people, 50.8% female and 49.2% male. The median age of the Mount Cotton population was 32 years, 5 years below the national median of 37. 76.8% of people living in Mount Cotton were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 7.8%, New Zealand 4.1%, South Africa 2.4%, Scotland 0.7%, Ireland 0.5%. 93.7% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 0.7% Afrikaans, 0.3% German, 0.3% Dutch, 0.2% Portuguese, 0.2% Japanese.
In the 2016 census, Mount Cotton had a population of 6,835 people.
In the 2021 census, Mount Cotton had a population of 7,302 people.
History info courtesy of Wikipedia
