Wellington Point
Postcode: 4160
Wellington Point is a suburb of the Redland Shire, about 22 km east of Brisbane, Queensland. The suburb derives its name from Wellington Point which extends prominently into Moreton Bay. The point and its adjoining waters are used extensively for aquatic sports. The area is also a popular day-trip destination but is predominantly urban, yet Wellington Point retains and has enhanced its seaside and village atmosphere among its high quality housing and services. Wellington Point is largely residential and adjoins Birkdale, Queensland in the west and Ormiston, Queensland to the south east.
The people of the Quandamooka lived in the Redlands long before white settlement. Food was plentiful and skilfully hunted, fished and collected.It is considered that the first Europeans to travel through Wellington Point were three shipwrecked timber getters, Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons in 1823.
Wellington Point was named by surveyors Robert Dixon and James Warner in 1842 after the Duke of Wellington who led the army of the United Kingdom in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The bay formed in part by Wellington Point was named Waterloo Bay. The first European settlers arrived in Wellington Point in the mid 1860’s after the first land sales of 1864 at which one of the big purchasers was Thomas Lodge Murray Prior. Another purchaser was Captain Louis Hope, who built Ormiston House and established a major sugar plantation and milling operation in Ormiston. In the 1889 a railway line from Brisbane, Queensland was built to Cleveland, Queensland passing through Wellington Point. This led to greater travel to Wellington Point and the opening up of yet more land. The line was closed in 1960 due to lack of use. In 1988 the Wellington Point railway station, Brisbane was opened and a rail link to Brisbane was re-established. The Wellington Point reserve, opened in the 1880’s was closed in 1974.
In 1887 Gilbert Burnett subdivided more of his Wellington Point holdings, especially around the railway station. Edith, Alice and Matilda Streets were laid out and named after three of Burnett’s daughters and the Wellington Point State School opened. The first Methodist church was established in 1888, as was the original Wellington Point Hotel which was demolished in 1972 but has since been rebuilt. Fernbourne was constructed in 1889, but was renamed Whepstead Manor in 1900. By 1893 the population of the area was 260 most involved in primary industries and service industries and by 1897 the end of Wellington Point was set aside as a recreation reserve.