page_title: Lota, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Lota, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Brisbane suburb of Lota, near the foreshore, ca. 1935. A cluster of houses is tucked back from the beach on the other side of the Esplanade. A park bench on the left of the photograph is under an established shade tree.
context_page_description: Lota is an eastern outer coastal suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Lota recorded a population of 3,256 people.
context_section_description: This part of Moreton Bay was originally occupied by the semi-nomadic Mipirimm subclan of the Quandamooka people. Lota and neighbouring suburb Manly were and continue to be known as Narlung to the Quandamooka people, likely meaning 'the place of long shadows'. The name ningi ningi (meaning 'oysters') may also have been used in relation to the area of Lota near the creek.  
  Lota was acquired by Irish-born politician and pastoralist William Duckett White in 1860, following sub-division of the lands from Lytton to Fig Tree Point. The first Queensland Premier, Robert Herbert, entered into a partnership with Duckett White for some of the land. The suburb is named after Duckett White's residence, Lota House, built in 1863. Lota House was the heart of a productive estate, with sugar cane and fodder grown on the flats near the creek and orchards planted on higher ground near Macdonald Street. Aboriginal and South Sea Islander people worked the property, camping to the west of Lota House. Other major Quandamooka campsites in the area in the mid-1800s were located in Manly and Wynnum.  
  Duckett White's land was first subdivided in 1911 to the east of the present railway line. The Lota Park Estate, west of the line, was sold in 1918. Lota School of Arts opened on the corner of Alexander and MacDonald Streets in 1927, and played host to dance evenings, film screenings and classes. The Rix-Farmer Memorial Presbyterian Church opened in opposite Lota House Oceana Terrace in 1931. The same year, Great Depression 'relief work' led to the reclamation of land along the Esplanade, and the building of Lota's seawall. 
  The former St Agnes' Anglican Church on The Esplanade (near Orallo Street, approx 27.4682°S 153.19269°E) was dedicated on 16 May 1957 by Archbishop Halse. Its closure was approved on 21 January 1994 by Assistant Bishop Ron Williams. The building was moved to Alexandra Hills Parish.
  In the 2011 census, Lota recorded a population of 3,255 people.
  In the 2016 census, Lota recorded a population of 3,256 people.
caption: Lota, near the foreshore, circa 1935
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