QLDFarming
Bulimba
A riverside farm district that relied on the ferry, not a bridge.
1849McConnel builds Bulimba House
WHAT STARTED IT
Bulimba sits on a bend of the Brisbane River opposite New Farm, a short boat trip from town but with no bridge to the north bank. Pastoralist David McConnel chose a rural site here in 1849 for a farm and sandstone house, and a farming settlement grew around it.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
By the 1860s Bulimba had a school and a church, and in 1877 farmers petitioned for a steam punt because the hand-worked ferry could not move their produce to the city; a steam vehicular ferry began in 1886. The Bulimba Brewery opened in Oxford Street in 1882, and housing estates spread as the tram crept closer, reaching Oxford Street in 1935.
TURNING POINTS
1849David McConnel begins building Bulimba House on the river.
1877A deputation asks the government for a steam punt at the Bulimba ferry.
1886A steam vehicular ferry begins running.
1922A new ferry terminal with a clock cupola is built.
1935The electric tram reaches Oxford Street.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A riverside suburb whose Oxford Street shops run down to the 1922 ferry terminal. Former industrial land near the river has been redeveloped for housing since the late 1990s.