Aboriginal history The Coorparoo clan, an
Aboriginal clan, lived south of the
Brisbane River and generally camped along creeks. Their name comes from
Kulpurum, which was the word for
Norman Creek or a tributary of it. They continued to occupy watercourse campsites after white settlement, but other clans from the region began to move into South Brisbane. In 1846, there were reports of Aboriginal people raiding produce along Norman Creek. In 1853, there was a fight between
Ningy Ningy,
Bribie Island (
Djindubari), Amity Point, and Logan peoples at Norman Creek. A visitor in 1855 reported many camps and fishing spots between
Stones Corner and the mouth of Norman Creek. In 1959, an eighty-year-old woman told of frequent
corroborees on the banks of the creek in Norman Park. Corroborees were also held at a little creek that crossed Norfolk Street.
Urban development On 17 June 1856, ten farms were sold from the
Parish of Bulimba near
Stones Corner. Investors bought all but two of them. The next year
James Warner surveyed land on the other side of the road for a second land auction. Although the auction was well attended, only 21 allotments were sold on the day. In February 1886, the "Langlands Estate, East Brisbane" was advertised to be auctioned by Arthur Martin & Co. The advertisement describes 568 allotments commencing a few yards beyond the junction of the Cleveland and Logan Roads, with extensive frontage to the Cleveland Road. A map advertising the auction shows the Nicklin residence on the estate. Coorparoo had been part of the
Bulimba Divisional Board since 1879. However, in 1888, as a result of dissatisfaction with this situation, a
petition was taken resulting in the creation of
Shire of Coorparoo. A bridge was built at Burnetts Swamp (
Stones Corner) and important road improvements took place. Development was taking off. In 1889, there were 2,500 people in the shire. Coorparoo Wesleyan Methodist Church opened on Sunday 13 June 1886. The current church building opened on 18 April 1959, with the former church being disassembled to provide material for a new church at
Carina. With the amalgamation of the Methodist Church into the
Uniting Church of Australia in 1977, it became the Coorparoo Uniting Church. Recently it has joined with the Norman Park Uniting Church under the new name of Faith Works Uniting Community. A newspaper advertisement of the day notes that "St Leonard's Estate" can be reached "in a very few weeks by the train". In May 1889, on what is now known as
Carina, 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'. On 7 November 1891, auctioneers T. Howling & Co offered for sale 27 suburban lots in the "Wendouree Estate" bounded by Old Cleveland Road to the north and Wecker Street (now Kirkland Avenue) to the east. It is unclear if any blocks were sold at the time as on 6 February 1913
Roman Catholic Archbishop James Duhig purchased this same land as a site and it is now occupied by St James' Catholic Church and School. The floods of
1889 and
1893 hit the low-lying areas of Coorparoo. The flooding combined with the
1890s depression slowed development in the area. In 1900, there were actually fewer houses than there had been ten years earlier. The settlement was dense from
Stones Corner to Kirkland Avenue (originally named Wecker Street but it was changed in 1914 in the wake of
anti-German sentiment), but further out it was mainly bush with a few isolated farms and houses. The only major industry was the
brickworks of Abraham James at St Leonards Street, which employed eighty men in the 1880s. A Baptist church opened in Coorparoo on Sunday 17 July 1910. After
World War I, land prices increased as property sales boomed. Coorparoo did not really begin to expand again until the
tram service was extended to
Stones Corner in 1902 and Coorparoo Junction in 1915. The number of houses increased from 613 in 1911 to 1,467 ten years later. "The Gem of Coorparoo" estate was advertised for auction by Cameron Bros in March 1922. A map of the estate shows 51 allotments in the area near the convent, now Villanova College, including St Leonard's Street, Lackey Avenue, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Avenues, Edmond Street and Diamond Avenue (now Barnes Avenue). The map also shows the Coorparoo railway station and the tramline on Old Cleveland Road. Presbyterian services in Coorparoo commenced with Sunday school and Sunday evening services held in the Shire Hall on
Cavendish Road, organised as an outreach of St John's Presbyterian Church in
Annerley. Land in Emlyn Street was purchased for £550 and a hall erected at a cost of £1500, opening in July 1928. In September 1931, Coorparoo Presbyterian Church engaged its first minister Reverend Andrew Cuthbertson Kennedy. During
World War II, the Catholic United Serviceman's Association bought the house
Erica at 398 Cavendish Road to establish a convalescent home for returned servicemen. The house was on a block bounded by Cavendish Road, Goring Street, Beresford Terrace, Strangman Terrace, and Park Street. In 1946, the Xavier Society (a charity operated by Catholic professional and businessmen) purchased the property to establish the Xavier Home for Crippled Children (most of whom were victims of
polio). Initially ten children were accommodated in the house until further buildings could be constructed on the site. On Sunday 15 May 1949,
Archbishop James Duhig laid the foundation stone for a new hospital wing, announcing that children of all faiths could be admitted to the facility. The hospital was operated by the
Sisters of Perpetual Adoration until the
Franciscan Missionaries of Mary took over in 1951. The facilities on the site continued to expand over the years and also catered for children with intellectual disabilities and terminal illnesses. By the 1990s, caring for children in institutions was being phased out in favour of providing support for children in their own homes with the Xavier Home officially closing in 1994 with its last in-patient discharged on 27 October 1995. On 16 February 1996 the staff moved to a new location at 284 Pine Mountain Road,
Mount Gravatt East, which was better suited to providing support services. In 2004, the house
Erica was listed on the
Brisbane Heritage Register. In 2007, the site was purchased to create The Village, a retirement community, resulting in the demolition of the hospital buildings with the house
Erica being refurbished as a communal facility for the residents. St Anne's Anglican Church opened circa 1958 in the Upper
Cavendish Road area. It closed circa 1980s. Coorparoo State High School opened on 1 January 1963. It was renamed Coorparoo Secondary College on 1 January 1994. On 24 August 1970, the
Queensland Government established the Xavier Special School at 39 Beresford Terrace with two teachers in two rooms of the Xavier Home for Crippled Children () to provide
special education to the children in the facility. Following the closure of the Xavier Home in 1994, Xavier Special School continued to operate from the Beresford Terrace site. In 2002, the Xavier School formally merged with
Camp Hill State High School and Whites Hill State School (both in
Camp Hill) to form
Whites Hill State College (also in Camp Hill) with Xavier Special School becoming the Xavier Special Education Unit within the college. Despite the merger, the Xavier Special Education Unit continued to operate from the Beresford Terrace site until 2009 when the lease expired on that site. In 2010, it was relocated to Mount Gravatt West Special School (now Nursery Road Special School in
Holland Park West), despite a petition signed by 588 people in December 2008 wanting the Xavier Special Education Unit to be relocated to Whites Hill State College (noting there was plenty of space available on that campus). One of the reasons given for choosing Mount Gravatt West Special School was the superior facilities it offered to incorporate Xavier's
conductive education methods for children with multiple impairments, such as the
hydrotherapy centre. As at 2022, Xavier's conductive education is provided in purpose-built classrooms at Nursery Road Special School. Metropolitan Districts Netball Association was established in 1974 at Downey Park in
Windsor, relocating to Wembley Park in Coorparoo in 1976. Its Coorparoo facilities were flooded in the
2011 Brisbane floods. In 2009, the Myer Department store building was compulsorily resumed for Eastern Busway and bus station by the Queensland Government. The Coorparoo station was going to be built on the Myer building site. In 2015, the old
Myer Department store building on the corner of Old Cleveland Road and Cavendish Road was demolished. In its place are 3 residential towers with commercial development on the lower floors. The development, known as Coorparoo Square opened in 2017 and features a 10 screen
Dendy cinema,
Aldi Supermarket and speciality retailers and coffee shops. The Coorparoo bus station was not built. Under the development, will be a void for the future Eastern Busway station. In 2011,
Brisbane School of Distance Education relocated to Coorparoo from its former site in
West End. The school is the amalgamation of the Primary Correspondence School (opened on 24 January 1922), the Secondary Correspondence School (opened in 1958) and the Preschool Correspondence (opened in 1974). ==Demographics==