Logan City


The City of Logan is a local government area located in the south of Greater Brisbane in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and the City of Gold Coast to the south, the City of Logan also borders the Scenic Rim Region, the City of Ipswich, and Redland City LGAs. Logan is divided into 70 suburbs and 12 divisions; a councillor is elected to each of the latter. The council had a population of 326,615 as of June 2018.
Gaining significant area in 2008 from the amalgamation of parts of the Albert and Beaudesert Shires, the City of Logan extends north to Priestdale, south to Mundoolun near the Albert River, east to Carbrook at the Logan River, and west to Lyons. Logan is located across parts of the sub-basin of Oxley Creek, and the Logan and Albert Rivers. The Daisy Hill Koala Centre serves as an example of Logan's prominent bushland, reminiscent of Karawatha Forest, and the Tamborine and Venman Bushland National Parks, that border Logan suburbs.
The region is named after Captain Patrick Logan, as is the aforementioned river, alongside the commercial hubs of Logan Central, Shailer Park's Logan Hyperdome, and Browns Plains. Other populous suburbs include Beenleigh, Rochedale South, Meadowbrook, Springwood, Woodridge, Eagleby and the rural towns of Jimboomba and Logan Village. The city facilitates much of the transport between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Its motorway network is extensive: in the city's north-east, the Logan Motorway joins the Pacific Motorway, while the Mount Lindesay Highway and Sydney–Brisbane rail corridor cross the city along a roughly central north-south axis. New developments are common, particularly those being built at Yarrabilba and Greater Flagstone, while Griffith University has already established a Logan campus in Meadowbrook which is being developed into a specialist area based around health, research and education.
In 2016, Luke Smith was elected mayor of Logan. On 2 May 2019, Minister for Local Government Stirling Hinchliffe sacked the Logan City Council after eight of its Councillors and suspended mayor were charged with one count of fraud. The suspended Mayor was also charged with two counts of misconduct. The council was under administration until March 2020 elections.
In the, the City of Logan had a population of 345,098 people.

History

Yugembah is an Australian Aboriginal languages of South East Queensland. The Yugembah language areas include Gold Coast, Logan, Scenic Rim, Tweed River Valley, Albert River, Beaudesert, Beenleigh, Coolangatta, Coomera, Logan River, Pimpama and Tamborine, within the local government boundaries of the City of Gold Coast, City of Logan, Scenic Rim Regional Council and the Tweed River Valley.
The Commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Captain Patrick Logan, was a compulsive explorer and in 1826 on his first expedition he discovered the Logan River. He noted the river was well suited to large-vessel traffic and was a first-class avenue to access the high-quality arable land along its banks. He named the country Darling, in honour of the Governor. The Governor renamed the river after Logan. One of the first large employers was the timber industry. The Logan River served as a rafting ground for logs and the new railways spurred local demand.
The penal settlement based in Brisbane was closed in 1841 and the land was quickly taken up by squatters. The first leases of land in the Logan area were issued from 1849 and immigration was encouraged following the separation from NSW in 1859. The declaration of the Logan and Eight Mile Plains Agricultural Reserves in 1862 led to extensive settlement of the area. German immigrants arrived in batches from the 1864 onwards. Generous land orders for immigrants in Queensland created a drawcard in the possibility of owning their own farm.
A cotton gin, which was converted to a sugar mill, was built at Loganholme in 1867. Cotton growers faced problems with both the weather and a lack of available labour despite the introduction of Kanaka labour. By the 1870s few working cotton plantations remained along the Logan River. While this crop was marginally successful, between 1866 and 1874, sugar was soon to become the staple industry.
Many small sugar mills were started by farmers seeking to avoid processing costs charged by big mills. However these quickly proved to be uneconomic. Many farmers in the area abandoned sugar after a severe frost in 1885 and a catastrophic flood in 1887 which saw crops destroyed and covered with metres of silt. Others continued growing sugar cane to make 1890 one of the best harvests ever. In 1888, the railway opened in Logan. Within a year, Cobb and Co services ended in Logan.
Significant flooding occurred in Logan during the 1974 Brisbane flood. The Wild Water Water Slide Park began operations in October 1982. The site was to become the Logan Hyperdome with the first work on the regional shopping centre beginning in October 1988. It was officially opened in July 1989. Construction work on the Logan Hospital started in February 1989. In August 2011, the Logan suburb of Slacks Creek was the location for Queensland's worst house fire.
In 2017, a water treatment plant at Round Mountain became the first in Australia to be powered entirely off-grid.

Establishment of Logan

The Department of Local Government instigated the formation of the new Logan Shire, which included the northern suburbs of both Albert and Beaudesert Shires. A section in the north previously belonged to the Shire of Tingalpa. There were about 69,000 people living to the north of the Logan River. On 31 May 1978, Local Government Minister Russ Hinze introduced the Local Government Bill and which was officially approved on 8 June 1978. Logan then was declared a city on 1 January 1981 and the administration building on Wembley Road was opened in February 1981.
The city was named after Captain Patrick Logan, one of the founders of the Moreton Bay convict settlement. Logan was honoured in the names of many locales in the district, such as the Logan River, the suburbs of Loganlea, Logan Village, Loganholme, Logan Reserve and Logan Central, the Logan Motorway and Logan Road, which connects Logan City with the nearby state capital of Brisbane.

Local government changes

With the major changes to local government in Queensland which took effect at 15 March 2008 local elections, Logan more than tripled in area and added 78,400 people to its population. This came about through annexing a large section of the now-dissolved Shire of Beaudesert as well as the Beenleigh-Eagleby suburban area to its southeast, which had been part of the Gold Coast. Residents of Beenleigh and Eagleby were asked to vote to join Logan, with an overwhelming "No" vote. Despite this, the amalgamation went ahead. In its rationale for the changes, the Local Government Reform Commission argued that the area added brought the South East Queensland urban footprint and future growth areas to 2026 under the one local government, which could plan effectively for the area's future and would face reduced compliance costs for development works. Economic factors, the lack of geographic barriers and the presence of transport corridors were also considered to be favourable to the annexation. Consideration was given to a merger with Redland to its east, but geographical barriers and the lack of a community of interest between them militated against this.

Demographics

The area is a major regional growth and development corridor with significant population growth expected through to 2041, second only to Brisbane in the state. The city has a higher rate of multicultural diversity than the Queensland average. About one quarter of Logan's residents were born overseas.
In the, Logan City had a population of 303,386 people, 50.6% female and 49.4% male with 3.2% being Indigenous Australian. The median age of Logan City was 34 years old, 4 years below the national median of 38. The most commonly nominated ancestries were English, Australian, Irish, Scottish, and German. 65.8% of people living in Logan City were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were New Zealand, England, the Philippines, India, and Samoa. 77.8% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were Samoan, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi, and Spanish. The most common religious affiliations reported were none, Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting Church. It had an unemployment rate of 5.61%, lower than the Queensland average of 6.2%.
In the, the Logan City had a population of 345,098 people, 50.6% female and 49.4% male with 4.2% being Indigenous Australian. The median age of Logan City was 34 years old, 4 years below the national median of 38. The most commonly nominated ancestries were English, Australian, Scottish, Irish and German. 65.7% of people living in Logan City were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were New Zealand, England, India, Philippines and Samoa. 75.1% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were Samoan, Punjabi, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi. The most common religious affiliations reported were none, Catholic, Anglican and Christian.

Governance

At the federal level, the majority of the city's population is represented by the electorate of Rankin. First proclaimed in 1984, Rankin has elected a member of the Labor Party at every election since inception. The newer parts of Logan are within Forde, while Moreton and Oxley contain small portions of Logan City closer to Brisbane. The Division of Wright, created in 2010, contains many of the rural areas in the southern part of the city.

Council

Logan City Council is divided and consists of 12 councillors and a popularly elected mayor. Councillors are not officially endorsed by political parties, but are required to declare current memberships of political parties, bodies, associations and trade or professional organisations.
CouncillorDeclared political membershipTermConstituency
Cr. Jon RavenALP2024–currentMayor
Cr. Lisa BradleyIndependent2008–2019, 2020–currentDivision 1
Cr. Teresa LaneALP2020–currentDivision 2
Cr. Melinda RussellALP2020–currentDivision 3
Cr. Nathan St LedgerIndependent2024–currentDivision 4
Cr. Paul JacksonIndependent2024–currentDivision 5
Cr. Anthony HallIndependent2020–currentDivision 6
Cr. Timothy FrazerALP2020–currentDivision 7
Cr. Jacob HeremaiaLNP2020–currentDivision 8
Cr. Scott BannanIndependent2020–currentDivision 9
Cr. Miriam StempIndependent2020–currentDivision 10
Cr. Natalie WillcocksIndependent2020–currentDivision 11
Cr. Karen MurphyIndependent2020–currentDivision 12

The council administers local infrastructure including 6 public pools, more than 900 parks, 7 cemeteries and a waste treatment plant at Browns Plains that provides gas-powered cogeneration power to about 2,000 homes.