Petrie Terrace Timeline

  • The first people in the area were the indigenous Tirrabul people that inhabited Red Jacket Swamp where Suncorp Stadium now sits.
  • The suburb of Petrie Terrace was named after the Petrie Terrace thoroughfare running between Upper Roma Street to the Five Ways intersection at Musgrave Road. This street was named for the Petrie Family; Andrew Petrie a builder and architect; John Petrie a contractor and the First Mayor of the Town of Brisbane in 1859; Thomas Petrie an explorer and authority on local Aboriginal custom.
  • 1842 – Free settlement in Brisbane was opened.
  • 1844 – Cemetery opened on the western side of Hale Street (NOW: Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium)
  • 1860 – The ‘Green Hills’ area reserved for a new jail which housed both male and female prisoners from as young as 10 years old to 96 years old.
  • 1861 – The slopes of the Petrie Terrace area attractive for subdivision for housing. Sub Divisions were as small as seven perches to fit in as many worker’s cottages as possible. (Can still be seen at Princess Row (1863) on Princess Street)
  • 1868 – The Petrie Terrace School (Cnr Milton Rd & Hale St) opened with enrolment of 300
  • 1864 – The Victoria Barracks and the Cricketers Arms hotel opened
  • 1870 – Female prisoners removed from Green Hills to the Toowoomba Jail.
  • 1875 – Local protests against sub-divisional activity succeeded in having the land between Petrie Terrace and Countess Street kept aside as Hardgrave Park
  • 1875 – A new school building was opened separating the girls and infants into the newly created Petrie Terrace Girls’ and Infants’ School
  • 1878 – The Petrie Terrace post office was opened
  • 1885 – The Victoria Barracks became the administrative headquarters for the QLD defence force
  • 1881 – Demolition of the Greens Hill jail began, as a new jail was constructed on Boggo Rd
  • 1883 – All prisoners from the Petrie Terrace Jail were transferred to the Boggo Road Prison
  • 1883 – Oddfellows Hall was built for businesses to lease
  • 1884 – Completion of a drainage scheme improved health conditions
  • 1866 – The Cemetery was closed
  • 1888 – The Prince Alfred Hotel (cnr Petrie Tce & Caxton St) was established
  • 1891 – Christ Church for Anglicans was built as a temporary replacement for a stone church which originally stood on the site but was irreparably damaged in 1890, and to this day the church remains and its small cemetery is all that remains of Brisbanes first free settlers cemetery.
  • 1901 – Victoria Barracks became the administrative headquarters for the Army in Queensland
  • 1909 – Oddfellows Hall was leased and became a clothing factory
  • 1916 – The cemetery was relocated and now Suncorp Stadium, formerly Lang park football ground, occupies part of the former site.
  • 1949 – OddFellows Hall was renamed the Baroona Labour Hall where many shops and business leased it at different times.
  • 1953 – Petrie Terrace State Girls’ and Infants’ School closed. The Petrie Terrace Boys’ State School changed classification to become a mixed gender school called Petrie Terrace State School. At the same time the Petrie Terrace State Infants’ school was opened.
  • 1960 – The Petrie Terrace Infants’ School closed and the infants were transferred to Petrie Terrace State School.
  • 1969 – The Petrie Terrace State School buildings were reconstructed after the original school was destroyed in a fire.
  • 1975 – Petrie Status received neighborhood locality status within the Brisbane-City suburb
  • 1988 – The Prince Alfred Hotel was renamed Hotel LA.
  • 2008 – The Victoria Barracks complex was redeveloped as The Barracks shopping and restaurant precinct
  • 2010 – Petrie Terrace was officially named as a suburb.