page_title: South Brisbane, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: South Brisbane, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: iSee Church, former Park Presbyterian Church, 31 Glenelg Street, South Brisbane
context_page_description: South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people.
context_section_description: South Brisbane together with West End and Highgate Hill is known as Kurilpa (meaning water rat) by the local Indigenous people and the area remains important in Indigenous life. Musgrave Park has been for many years a place of congregation for the Murri peoples of south-east Queensland. It is the site of a bora ring that has been buried.  The Ngundari and Jagara groups were drawn to the river at South Brisbane for fishing and gunyah building.
  The area was named South Brisbane because it was on the south side of the Brisbane River relative to North Brisbane (now the present Brisbane CBD) during the era of the Moreton Bay penal colony (1824-1842). The name Brisbane comes from the name of the river, which in turn was named by explorer John Oxley in 1823 after Sir Thomas Brisbane, then the Governor of New South Wales.
  European settlement commenced with the first land sales in 1843, followed by the development of wharves along the bank of the Brisbane River.  The first street in the area was called Stanley Quay, later to become Stanley Street. 
  In December 1849, the Church of England obtained a block of land facing Melbourne Street and extending to Grey Street and Stanley Street (approx 27.4736°S 153.0185°E, now the site of the Queensland Museum), a total of 1 acre, 3 roods, 8 perches of land, on which to erect a church, a school and a parsonage. However it is not until August 1858 that the school house was constructed on the site with the expectation that it would also be used for "occasional" public worship. The building was 43 by 23 feet (13.1 by 7.0 m) of hammer-dressed stone. On 6 September 1858 Miss Clothier opens a school there. In 1859 it is described as an "English Church" at "South Brisbane".  By May 1862 the church has a resident minister enabling regular services. The church was adversely impacted by the construction of the 1874 Victoria Bridge as the bridge was higher and the approach roads had to be built up accordingly, resulting in the church being below the new road level, forcing the parishioners to approach the church from the rear. It is unclear when the church was named for St Thomas but that name is in use by October 1877.
  Commercial buildings and hotels developed around the Russell Street area. By the 1850s there were over 100 residences in the area. Due to its proximity to wharves the area became the place where bullock drovers stayed and relaxed. Thomas Baines visited Brisbane in 1855 and depicted South Brisbane in a painting titled 'South Brisbane from North Brisbane', 13 years later.  South Brisbane Recreation Reserve (now known as Musgrave Park) was created in 1856.
  The first Presbyterian church in the district was built in Grey Street near Melbourne Street (approx 27.4745°S 153.0183°E) by John Graham. It was a small weatherboard church and was officially opened on 25 May 1851 by the Reverend Thomas Mowbray. After the congregation relocated to the Park Presbyterian Church in 1885, the Grey Street building was sold and used for storage. The old Grey Street church was sold to a private firm and used for storage. Later the site was resumed and the church building demolished for the construction of the present South Brisbane railway station.
  A Baptist Sunday school operated in South Brisbane from 1857, but it was not until July 1872 that the Vulture Street Baptist Church opened at 218 Vulture Street (corner of Christie Street, 27.4831°S 153.0275°E). It was later renamed the South Brisbane Baptist Church. The church was rebuilt in 1966, reopening on 10 December 1966. In 2003 it was renamed the South Bank Baptist Church to reflect its proximity to the South Bank Parklands. It was demolished in early 2013 when the congregation moved to a new church at 859 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba, renaming itself as Church@TheGabba.
  In October 1863 Bishop James Quinn called for tenders to erect a Roman Catholic church in South Brisbane. The small wooden St Mary's Church was built on the southern corner of Merivale Street and Peel Street (in the carpark of the current church, 27.4736°S 153.0153°E) and was opened on  2
caption: Former Park Presbyterian Church (now the iSEE church), 2020
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