West End is an inner southern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

in the

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of Greater Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. The LGAs in the other mainland state capitals ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , West End had a population of 14,730 people. The Aboriginal name for the area is ''Kurilpa'', which means ''place of the water rat''.

Geography

Geographically, West End is bounded by the median of the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

to the west and the south. Hill End is a neighbourhood () within West End in the south-west of the suburb near the Brisbane River. West End is adjacent to the suburbs of

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 14,292 people. Geography South Brisbane is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the nor ...

and Highgate Hill. These three suburbs make up a peninsula of the

History

Before the arrival of Europeans in West End, there was an important habitual Aboriginal camp in the area around the upper part of Musgrave Park where

Brisbane State High School Brisbane State High School (BSHS or commonly State High) is a partially selective, co-educational, state secondary school, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland, ...

now stands. Boundary Street in West End and in Spring Hill were named as along with Vulture Street and Wellington Road, they formed the original boundary of the Town of Brisbane. Later, when Brisbane grew out to these boundaries, police prevented the Jagera and

Turrbal The Turrbal are an Aboriginal Australian people from the area now known as Brisbane. The boundaries of their traditional territory are unclear and linguists are divided over whether they spoke a separate language or a dialect of the Yuggera la ...

peoples from being within the boundaries of the British settlement at night and on Sundays. It has been questioned whether the actions of the police were legally sanctioned or not. The entire riverbank in the West End area was covered with impenetrable rain forest. This was described as a "tangled mass of trees, vines, flowering creepers, staghorns, elkhorns, towering scrub palms, giant ferns, and hundreds of other varieties of the fern family, beautiful and rare orchids, and the wild passion flower". Along the river bank itself were sandy beaches, water lilies in thousands and dangling convolvulus.

Bush rat The bush rat or Australian bush rat (''Rattus fuscipes'') (Zak) is a small Australian nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria and ...

s or fawn-footed melomys existed in large numbers in the rain forest and were hunted by driving them into nets. They were roasted and eaten by women only. They featured in various dreaming tales and tribal lore. The Aboriginal place name of ''Kurilpa'' derives from the name ''Kureel-pa'' meaning ''place of water rats''. The name is still used for various local places, buildings and institutions in West End and South Brisbane area, e.g. West End was located in the former

Electoral District of Kurilpa Kurilpa was a Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Legislative Assembly Electoral districts of Queensland, electorate in the states and territories of Australia, state of Queensland from 1912 to 1986. It was named for the Kurilpa Peninsula on th ...

. West End was named by early British settlers after the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

. European settlers took advantage of the fertile soil to establish farms and orchards. There were strawberry farms where for an entry fee, visitors could eat all they wanted. A creek ran down from the Dornoch Terrace area into a reservoir at the corner of Melbourne and Manning streets from where water was sold. After heavy rain, this creek caused local flooding in West End. There was a spring near the site of the Boundary Hotel which was used by residents from the south side of Brisbane to collect water with long queues forming in dry periods. A

Primitive Methodist Church The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a Christian revival, revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Loren ...

opened in Hill End in October 1873. On 16 August 1875, three schools opened: West End Boys State School, West End Girls State School and West End Infants State School, with a total of 236 pupils. On 30 June 1936, the boys' and girls' schools were merged creating West End State School. The infants' school was merged into West End State School on 16 December 1994. The school was built on a site originally set aside to be a cemetery. However, no burials were conducted there as the much larger

South Brisbane Cemetery South Brisbane Cemetery, also known as Dutton Park Cemetery, is a heritage-listed cemetery at 21 Fairfield Road and Annerley Road, Dutton Park, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Brisbane River. It was built from 1870 to 1 ...

was established in

Dutton Park Dutton Park is an inner southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Dutton Park had a population of 2,134 people. Geography Dutton Park is located about south of the Brisbane ...

in 1868. In February 1879, the Brighton Road Congregational Church was completed. It was designed by architect John R. Hall and built by Mr E. Lewis from hardwood and

chamferboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of those terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'', in modern Am ...

. It was with a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

roof made of shingles. It had a vestry, an ornamental

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

and bell turret. The church closed on 21 May 1972. It was on the north-west corner of Brighton Road and Sussex Street (). The church building is no longer extant. Tangara retirement village operated by

Blue Care Blue Care is an agency of UnitingCare Australia, UnitingCare Queensland, the health and community arm of the Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church in Queensland, Australia. Originally established as the Blue Nursing Service by the Methodist ...

opened on the site in October 1980. In the 1880s, there was industrial development along Montague Road, including the South Brisbane Gas Works, sawmills and a steam joinery. The farms and orchards were steadily subdivided into suburban allotments which were popular due to the proximity of West End to the city, the river breezes and improving public transport. West End Wesleyan Methodist Church opened in Vulture Street in 1884. It was designed by

Alexander Brown Wilson Alexander Brown Wilson (5 June 1857, in Glasgow, Scotland – 5 May 1938, in Kangaroo Point, Queensland, Australia) was an architect in Queensland, Australia. A number of his works are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. Life Alexande ...

. It was built from brick at a cost of £2850 and could seat 550 people. Following the amalgamation that created the

Uniting Church of Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

in 1977, it became West End Uniting Church. It is listed on the

Brisbane Heritage Register The Brisbane Heritage Register is a heritage register containing a list of culturally-significant places within the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mai ...

. West End was one of the first suburbs of Brisbane to be serviced by a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

line, being opened in 1885. Initially the tram was horse-drawn and terminated in Boundary Street, but in 1897 the line was electrified and extended to the corner of Hardgrave Road and Hoogley Street, via Vulture Street. It was subsequently extended down Hoogley Street to the

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

terminus at the end of Hoogley Street in 1925. The tram line closed on 13 April 1969. St Peter's Anglican Church was dedicated on 11 September 1888 by Archdeacon

Nathaniel Dawes Nathaniel Dawes (24 July 1843 – 12 September 1910) was an Anglican bishop in Australia. He was the first Bishop of Rockhampton in Queensland, from 1892 to 1909. He was the first bishop to be consecrated in Australia. Early life Dawes was ...

. The church was and made of Oregon pine with a shingle roof. It was designed by H. W. Martin and could seat 175 people. The church was at 18 Mitchell Street (). Its closure on 24 April 1995 was approved by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Peter Hollingworth Peter John Hollingworth, (born 10 April 1935) is an Australian retired Anglican bishop. Engaged in social work for several decades, he served as the archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane in Queensland for 11 years from 1989 and was the ...

. As September 2022, the church building was being used as a childcare centre. It is listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register. StateLibQld 1 156734 West End during the 1893 Brisbane flood

StateLibQld 1 156734 West End during the 1893 Brisbane flood

The riverside area of West End was badly flooded during the

1893 Brisbane flood The 1893 Brisbane flood, occasionally referred to as the Great Flood of 1893 or the Black February flood, occurred in 1893 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February 1893. It was the ...

. The West End Library opened in 1925. The foundation stone for St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church was laid on 10 June 1923 by the Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor

Bartolomeo Cattaneo Bartolomeo Cattaneo (26 September 1866 – 14 May 1943) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1917 and was Apostolic Delegate to Australia from 1917 to 1933. ...

. On 26 November 1923, it was opened and blessed by

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

. It was quickly realised that the site would not be large enough to build a school, so, in 1926, an site immediately across Dornoch Terrace from the church was purchased and the church building relocated to the new site (now 47-59 Dornoch Terrace). On 22 January 1928, St Francis' Catholic Primary School opened adjacent to the church by Archbishop Duhig; the school was operated by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

with 113 students on the opening day. In 1928, a convent and a presbytery were also built on the larger site. The school closed in 1974 due to the changing demographics of the area. The former Tristram's Drink Factory at 79 Boundary Street was built in 1928 and is one of Australia's best examples of the

Mission Revival Style architecture The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

. It was converted into a market in the 1990s and remains a heritage landmark of West End. The Dornoch Terrace Bridge was completed in 1941, replacing an older bridge across Boundary Street built in 1888. The 1941 bridge was a precursor to a new bridge across the

to the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, which was never built. The 2017 University of Queensland Master Plan is still calling for a bridge from West End. Christian Outreach College opened on 16 May 1978 in Kurilpa Street, West End. It relocated to

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

in 1928, but is now within the suburb boundaries of

Carindale Carindale is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO, and borders Belmont, Carina, Carina Heights, Mackenzie, Mansfield, Mount Gravatt East, and Tingalpa. In the , Cari ...

in 1982. It is now known as Citepointe Christian College. In 1988, the Brisbane School of Distance Education was established at 405 Montague Road. It was 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). It relocated to

Coorparoo Coorparoo ( ) is a suburb in the inner City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 18,132 people. Geography Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Ston ...

in 2011. Scenes for the feature film '' Jucy'' (2010) were shot at the now-defunct video store Trash Video in the suburb. The suburb was affected by the

2010–2011 Queensland floods A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in December 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 90 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at A ...

as the Brisbane River broke its banks. From 11 January low-lying areas of the suburb and other places in Brisbane were evacuated.

Demographics

In the , West End had a population of 8,061 people; 50% male (4,029 males) and 50% female (4,032 females). Just over half (52.4%) of households were family households, 34.6% were single person households and 13.1% were group households. The median age of the West End population was 35 years, 2 years below the Australian median. Children aged under 15 years made up 11.5% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 8.8% of the population. The suburb has traditionally been home to Brisbane's largest

Greek Australian Greek Australians () are Australians of Greek ancestry. Greek Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Greek diaspora. As per the 2021 Australian census, 424,750 people stated that they had Greek ancestry (whether alone o ...

community, with an estimated 75% of Brisbane's Greek population living in West End by 1980. The most common ancestries in West End are English 20.6%, Australian 16.8%, Irish 10.1%,

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

8.0% and Greek 5.2%.

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

make up 1.5% of the population of West End. For this reason, West End has been described as one of Brisbane's most successful multicultural areas. 56.6% of people living in West End were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%. The other top responses for country of birth were England 4.5%, New Zealand 3.4%, Vietnam 2.7%, Greece 2.7% and India 1.4%. 66.4% of people spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were Greek 5.9%, Vietnamese 3.3%, Mandarin 2.0%, Cantonese 1.4% and Spanish 1.1%. The most common religious affiliation was "No Religion" (35.3%); the next most common responses were Catholic 16.5%, Anglican 8.1%, Eastern Orthodox 7.4% and Buddhism 5.2%. In the , West End had a population of 9,474 people. In the , West End had a population of 14,730 people.

Heritage listings

West End has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * 19 Bank Street: Astrea * 178 Boundary Road: Kurilpa Library * Dornoch Terrace: Dornoch Terrace Bridge * 15 Gray Road: Wanda Walha * 30 Sussex Street: Brighton Terrace * 37 Gray Road: Nassagaweya * 277 Montague Road: Gas Stripping Tower * 321 Montague Road: West End Gasworks * 406 Montague Road: Thomas Dixon Centre *24 Vulture Street ():

West End State School West End State School is a heritage-listed state school at 24 Vulture Street, West End, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1891 to 1960. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 April 2018. History Wes ...

Planning and development

In 2005, just over 50% of the dwellings are standalone houses and 37% are higher density residential properties, including multi-storey blocks of

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

and units. Some

houses A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

are covered by

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

s seeking to preserve the historical character e.g. tin roofing. Contrasting sharply with the historic homes are new buildings of contemporary designs. Prices for all types of properties have been increasing dramatically in recent decades. According to REIQ, the median unit/town-house price in West End for 2005 was $310,000, and the median house price is $490,500. In May 2012, it was announced that the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan would be resubmitted to allow the construction of 12-storey buildings, considerably higher than the previous seven-storey limit. According to the Brisbane City Council's Neighbourhood Planning chairwoman, Amanda Cooper, there are six sites located between Montague Road and the Brisbane River, south of Davies Park, which are at least one-hectare in area, a requirement for construction of the increased building heights. The nature of some developments has led to community disquiet. The redevelopment of the Absoe site is a high-profile example. As of January 2023, the median price for the preceding year was $1,682,500 for a house and $587,500 for an apartment. The median weekly rental for the same period was $740 for a house and $520 for an apartment.

Economy

The area's major attraction is its

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

and

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

scene, as well as its shopping, which is centred along Boundary Street. It is also known for its high concentration of ethnic and organic grocery stores. Davies Park on the riverside hosts one of the largest

farmer's market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

s in Greater

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

every Saturday called the Green Flea Markets. Weekend 'brunch' culture is prevalent in West End, with numerous cafes and restaurants serving the area. West End has an industrial backbone, in particular, along Montague Road down to Riverside Drive. Given the value of riverside property now that flooding is better managed, factories are now being sold to make way for upscale waterfront apartments. This is part of a plan to increase population densities in near-city suburbs. It will significantly affect the ability of working-class people to remain in the area and change the economic make-up of the area. As such, West End is currently undergoing urban renewal, with a large change in real estate prices, and new development changing the area demographic.

Education

West End State School is a government primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at 24 Vulture Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 1021 students with 71 teachers (61 full-time equivalent) and 32 non-teaching staff (23 full-time equivalent). In 2017, plans to expand the school's site were announced following a purchase of an adjacent block of land. There is no secondary school in West End. The nearest government secondary school is

in neighbouring

to the east. This school is known for its academic excellence and demand for places outstrips supply. However students within its local catchment area are always able to attend this school, which drives up the price of real estate in suburbs within the catchment like West End as parents seek to buy or rent within the catchment to obtain enrolment in the school.

Transport

The suburb is well serviced by buses and ferries. Bus services include Route 199 BUZ to New Farm-City-West End Ferry, leaving every five minutes during peak times, Route 192 University of Queensland to City, Route 198 Highgate Hill Hail & Ride (Coles West End-PA Hospital-Woolloongabba-Vulture St-Coles West End) and a CityGlider service along Montague Road. Additionally, Route 86 Kurilpa Bus Loop, alternately known as the South Brisbane loop, is a free bus loop servicing parts of South Brisbane and West End that was introduced in January 2023. This loop was introduced partly to compensate for existing infrastructure delays from the

Brisbane Metro Brisbane Metro is a high-frequency bus rapid transit system that services the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It consists of two routes that will eventually run through the Brisbane central business district, Brisbane CBD every thr ...

transport project.

CityCat RiverCity Ferries is a public transport company which commenced operating ferry services in Brisbane on 4 November 2020. It is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group. RiverCity Ferries operates 36 vessels serving 22 wharves on the Brisbane River u ...

services leave from the West End ferry wharf in Orleigh Street. The ferry terminal, destroyed in the 2011 floods, was replaced and operating on 24 July 2011.

Culture

West End has a number of galleries and

artist-run initiatives An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

which showcase the works of local artists. The neighbouring suburb of South Brisbane, the designated cultural precinct of Brisbane, is home to some of Queensland's most well-regarded cultural education institutions, such as the

Queensland College of Art The Queensland College of Art and Design (QCAD), established as Brisbane School of Arts and formerly known as Queensland College of Art or (QCA) after other name changes, is a specialist visual arts and design college located in South Bank, Br ...

, the

Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (formerly the Queensland Conservatorium of Music) is a selective, audition based music school located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and is part of Griffith University. History The Conservatori ...

Queensland Performing Arts Centre The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it includes the Lyric Thea ...

. However, as Southbank is primarily commercial, many artists and students live in the much larger and residential West End.

Amenities

The

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

operates a public library at 178–180 Boundary Street (currently known as West End Library but previously known as Kurilpa Library). St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church is at 47–49 Dornoch Terrace (). It is part of the Parish of Dutton Park served by the Capuchin Franciscan Friars. West End Uniting Church is at 113 Vulture St ().

Sport

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

rugby league team, the

Souths Logan Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

, play their home games at

Davies Park Davies Park is a sporting venue in the suburb of West End in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is grass. It is located at the corner of Jane St, Montague Road & Riverside Drive, West End. It is the home ground of the Souths Logan Magpies, a ...

, West End (Bill Tyquin Oval). Prior to 2003, it was the famous

Souths Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

who competed on the Davies Park field, and renowned players such as

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

, Gary Belcher,

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

Mick Veivers Michael Desmond Veivers (born 12 August 1939) was the Member for Southport from 1987 to 2001 and was Minister for Emergency Services and Sport in the Borbidge Government. He had previously been a Rugby League international. Veivers was born a ...

Greg Veivers Greg Veivers (born 22 September 1949) is an Australians, Australian former rugby league footballer who captained Australian Kangaroos, Australia in a Rugby League World Cup match in 1977 Rugby League World Cup, 1977. He represented Australia in ...

Harold 'Mick' Crocker Harold "Mick" Crocker (14 December 1927 – 11 December 2014) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australia national and Queensland state representative back-row forward, he played his ...

Frank Drake Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist. He began his career as a radio astronomer, studying the planets of the Solar System and later pulsars. Drake expanded his interests ...

, Mitch Brennan,

Bob Lindner Bob Lindner (born 10 November 1962) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s. An Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he is ...

, Ash Lumby,

Norm Carr Norm Carr (born 20 February 1955) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played his entire club career in the Brisbane Rugby League Premiers ...

, Richo Hill and Chris Phelan wore the black and white of the club. Current ARLC Chief John Grant was another ex-Souths player, representing Australia from the club, while veteran rugby league coach Wayne Bennett was a premiership-winning mentor with the Magpies in the mid-1980s. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Magpies were an institution in West End with their 1981 and 1985

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in Brisbane Rugby League (2001), 2001, kno ...

grand final victories. Along the river bank of Milton Reach can be found the rowing sheds of a number of Brisbane secondary schools such as

Brisbane Grammar School Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) is an Independent school, independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Austra ...

and Brisbane State High School, as well as rowing clubs. Amongst these is the Commercial Rowing club. It was established in 1877 and is Queensland's oldest amateur sporting club. The South Brisbane Sailing Club has its club house near Orleigh Park. The club was established in 1903 and has been located in West End since 1956.

Open spaces

, open spaces in West End include: * Boundary Street Park, 349 Boundary Street () * Bunyapa Park, 68 Vulture Street () * Davies Park, 349 Boundary Street () * Orleigh Park, 68 Hill End Terrace () * two Ryan Street Parks, 115 & 147 Ryan Street (, ) * South Brisbane Riverside Lands Park () * West End Community Park, 155 Boundary Street () * West End Riverside Lands Park, 60 Kurilpa Street () Bunyapa Park at 68 Vulture Street was formerly called West End Urban Common. Its new name was suggested by Aboriginal activist Sam Watson, and the park was officially renamed in December 2017.

References

External links

West End's Community Newspaper website
*
Street walkers guide to westend

Zhan Teh West End, Brisbane photographs

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

Dean Saffron West End shops photographs
State Library of Queensland {{Suburbs of Brisbane City Council Suburbs of the City of Brisbane