Herston is an inner

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 ...

of 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 , Herston had a population of 2,311 people.

Geography

Herston is located by car north of the Brisbane GPO. The area of Herston includes the Herston Health Precinct on its eastern side. This includes the

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) is a tertiary public hospital located in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeaste ...

, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the ''Herston Quarter'' which is a development site to replace the former

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), colloquially referred to as the Royal Children's, is a major children's hospital in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Regarded as one of the great C ...

which moved to another site in 2014. Herston also includes the

Ballymore Stadium Ballymore is a rugby union stadium situated in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is the headquarters of Queensland Rugby Union and was the home ground of the Brisbane City team in the National Rugby Championship, until the league's ...

Rugby Union venue in the northwest and Victoria Park on the southern side of Herston Road. The park includes the Victoria Park golf course and the heritage-listed former Victoria Park Golf Clubhouse built in 1931. The rest of Herston is mostly a residential suburb, with some areas of light industry near the main roads. Many of Herston's residents are employed by the hospital or nearby at the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

in Kelvin Grove. There is also a significant student population that studies at the university. The Herston Quarter is a development site in Herston adjacent to the

on the site of the former

which was merged into the Queensland Children's Hospital in South Brisbane. The site includes the restoration of the historic Royal Brisbane Hospital Nurses' Homes.

History

Herston was first settled by

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...

in the 1850s. Sir Robert Herbert, Queensland's first premier, built a farm in the area, and lived in the farmhouse with his then Attorney-General, John Bramston. They named their house ''Herston'', a combination of their surnames, which eventually became the name of the suburb. It has been speculated that the two men may have been in a kind of homosexual relationship at the time or at least a kind of very strong and intimate male friendship. Many of Herston's streets were named after local identities of the time. Bowen Bridge Road and Bowen Park were named after Sir George Bowen, Queensland's first governor. Butterfield Street was named after local schoolmaster William Butterfield. Hetherington Street was named after coal industry identity John William Hetherington, and Garrick Terrace got its name from James Francis Garrick, the man who purchased Herston from Herbert and Bramston. Royal Children's Hospital Special School opened on 11 August 1919. As the name suggests, the school provided education to children who were patients in the hospital. On 1 December 2014 it became the Royal Brisbane and ACT for Kids Campus of the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital School. On 1 January 2019 it became a campus of the Queensland Children's Hospital School (reflecting the name change of the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital). St Joan of Arc Catholic church opened on Sunday 5 December 1920 when it was blessed and opened by

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, James Duhig. St Joan of Arc Catholic School opened on 14 July 1924 under the Sisters of the Presentation. The school closed in 1968. From the eastern side of the suburb was served by frequent

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 ...

services along Bowen Bridge Road, with routes converging from Chermside, Kalinga (until 1962),

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

, and

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

. These services combined to provide the suburb with an off-peak service of a tram every 2½ minutes along Bowen Bridge Road in the late 1950s. This service ceased in December 1968. From the western side of the suburb was served by trams which ran along Kelvin Grove Road. This service also ceased in December 1968. Herston Methodist Church opened on Saturday 24 March 1923 on the corner of Aberleigh and Scott Roads (). It was an unpretentious hardwood building . The church was still operating in 1990 but had closed prior to March 2020. On 13 October 1928 St Luke's Anglican Mission Hall was dedicated 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 ...

Gerald Sharp. Although Herston was within the parish of Holy Trinity Church at

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestri ...

, Herston residents had wanted a closer place of worship. The mission hall was in a converted residence with the front rooms being used as a chapel and a Sunday School. A new church was dedicated on 29 April 1962 by Archbishop Reginald Halse and consecrated on 18 October 1964 by Archbishop Philip Strong. Its closure on 7 May 1993 was approved by Assistant Bishop Wood. It was located on the corner of Wyndham and Weightman Streets (). Between 1953 and November 1968, the suburb was also served by

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 ...

trolley-buses which connected the suburb with

and ran through to Stanley Bridge in East Brisbane. The trolley-buses ran along Herston Road and Butterfield Street, past Ballymore football ground, terminating near the intersection of Prospect Terrace and Kelvin Grove Road. Wattlebrae Hospital School opened on circa 1957 and closed on circa 1958. In 2009, a decision was made to merge the Royal Children's Hospital with Mater Children's Hospital in Stanley Street, South Brisbane to create a single children's hospital in Brisbane. The decision was very controversial with many people opposed to the merger, while others supported the merge but argued over location of the new hospital (some favouring the Herston site and other favouring the South Brisbane site). The Queensland Children's Hospital opened on 29 November 2014, adjacent to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, in South Brisbane, with the Royal Children's Hospital and the Mater Children's Hospital closing immediately as their patients were transferred to the Queensland Children's Hospital. In November 2014, the Queensland Government sought applications from developers to develop the site into a mixed-use precinct which would complement the adjacent health and educational facilities. Three lead developers were short-listed in July 2015. On 1 October 2015, the government issued a call for detailed proposals from the two remaining shortlisted parties to develop the site, Stockland having withdrawn. The remaining proponents were Frasers Property Australia with

Australian Unity Australian Unity is an Australian Mutual organization, mutual company having its origins in the friendly society, friendly societies movement. In 2012, Big Sky was merged with Australian Unity to become the banking arm of the company. History ...

and

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),

with Trinity Health. On 9 December 2015, the government announced that part of the development would include a government-funded Specialist Rehabilitation and Ambulatory Care Centre (SRACC) with 100 rehabilitation beds and 32-day surgery beds with seven

operating theatre An operating theater (also known as an Operating Room (OR), operating suite, operation suite, or Operation Theatre (OT)) is a facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out in an aseptic environment. Historically, the ter ...

s and three

endoscopy An endoscopy is a procedure used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike many other medical imaging techniques, endoscopes are insert ...

rooms. The project to redevelop the Herston Quarter site is expected to cost the Queensland Government over ten years to develop a mixed health, aged care, residential and retail precinct. On 14 August 2016,

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...

announced that

had won the tender for the redevelopment, and there were expected to be 700 construction jobs and 1000 ongoing jobs on the site. It was announced to include a 132-bed specialist rehabilitation and ambulatory care centre for burns, stroke and other recovering patients. Further stages will have a private hospital for day-surgery, a residential aged-care home for over 100 people, research facilities, accommodation for 250 medical students, nurses scientists and visiting experts. The development will be overseen by the Metro North Hospital and Health Service. On 25 August 2016,

HASSELL Hassell is a multidisciplinary architecture, design and urban planning practice with offices in Australia, China, Singapore, USA and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1937/8 in Adelaide, South Australia, the firm's former names include Claridge, Ha ...

was announced as the design partner for the Herston Quarter project. Watpac was announced as the builder. The Herston Quarter was declared a "Priority Development Area" (PDA) on 18 November 2016 by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

under the ''Economic Development Act 2012''. The declaration of a PDA removes the affected land from the planning and development processes of both the ''Sustainable Planning Act 2009'' and ''Brisbane City Plan 2014''. The PDA is managed by Economic Development Queensland within the

Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

. In addition, an Interim Land Use Plan was prepared to fast-track the development of a Specialist Rehabilitation and Ambulatory Care Centre. On 6 July 2017 the PDS (Proposed Development Scheme) was released for consultation. On 6 August 2017, the State Government released development plans for the Herston Quarter project.

Demographics

In the , Herston had a population of 2,215 people. The median age of the Herston population was 29 years of age, 9 years below the Australian median. 50.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was China at 6.5%. 57.7% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin at 7.1%.The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.7% and Catholic 18.4%. In the , Herston had a population of 2,311 people.

Heritage listings

Herston 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: * 40 Bowen Bridge Road: Brisbane General Hospital Precinct * Herston Road: Royal Brisbane Hospital Nurses' Homes * 288 Herston Road: University of Queensland Mayne Medical School * 309 Herston Road: former Victoria Park Golf Clubhouse

Education

The Royal Brisbane and ACT for Kids Campus of the Queensland Children's Hospital School is located within the hospital precinct. However it is only for children who are in-patients of the hospitals and their family members. There are no other schools in Herston. The nearest government primary and secondary school is the Kelvin Grove State College in neighbouring Kelvin Grove.

Amenities

St Joan of Arc Catholic Church is at 47 Clyde Road ().

Transport

Brisbane City Council diesel buses serve the suburb, with two distinct corridors along Butterfield Street in the north and the Inner-Northern Busway in the south of the suburb. It services the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital busway station (which is the terminus for several routes including the Brisbane Metro M2 route), and Herston station, located across Herston Road from the hospital's rear entrance.https://metro.brisbane.qld.gov.au/content/dam/brisbanecitycouncil/brisbane-metro/documents/brisbanes-new-bus-network-guide.pdf.coredownload.pdf

References

External links

*
Herston Quarter's Resident Action Group (HQRAG)
{{Suburbs of Brisbane City Council Suburbs of the City of Brisbane