Seven Hills, Queensland
Seven Hills is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Seven Hills had a population of 2,211 people. Geography. Seven Hills is located by road east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Carina, Cannon Hill, Morningside, and Norman Park. As the name suggests, there are seven hills and the suburb and the hills themselves take their names from the Seven Hills of Rome. The seven hills are: All are within the current boundaries of the suburb, except for Esquiline Hill which is in the neighbouring suburb of Camp Hill on Tranter  Avenue. Also there is another hill in the suburb of Seven Hills, Lilian Hill () which is not named after one of the Seven Hills of Rome. History. The name of the area first appeared in local maps in 1891 and 1895, when it was in the possession of landowners David Ham, John James Kingsbury (Ham's son-in-law) and Acheson Overend. The name was taken from the "Seven Hills Estate Co", a mining company whose own name reflected the terrain of the Creswick area north of Ballarat and of which Ham was a prominent shareholder. The 1925 sub-division  plan submitted by new owner and land developer Robert George Oates, incorporated Roman street names. Between 1912 and 1926 the southern edge of the suburb was serviced by the Belmont Tramway which connected with the Queensland Government Railway at Norman Park. Initially the service was operated by the Belmont Shire Council until it was suspended in 1924. The service was reinstated by the Brisbane City Council in 1925 following the amalgamation of the local government authorities, but was again suspended in 1926. The tracks, which followed the present Oateson Skyline Drive and Ferguson Road and continued to Belmont along Old  Cleveland Road, remained in place until 1934. In 1953 the Brisbane City Council commenced a trolley-bus service, which connected the suburb with Fortitude Valley via Stanley Street, terminating just off Oateson Skyline Drive. The trolley-bus service ceased operation on 13 March 1969, when diesel buses took over the service. Seven Hills State School opened on 25 January 1960. On 1 June 2001, Seven Hills was gazetted as a suburb by the Queensland Government, following a push by local residents to have it recognised independently of Norman Park. A Southbank Institute of Technology campus was operational in the suburb  until 2010. The site has since become the Clearview Urban Village. At the Seven Hills had a population of 2,028 people. In the , Seven Hills had a population of 2,211 people. Public Transport. There has been no railway station in Seven Hills since the closure of the Belmont Tramway in 1926, however Norman Park and Morningside stations are located within walking distance of the western side of the suburb. Three radial bus corridors serve the suburb. Two express bus routes alternate to provide a relatively frequent and direct connection between the Brisbane central business district and Cannon Hill Shopping Centre  bus station along a corridor that passes through the northwest corner of Seven Hills via Agnew Street and Clearview Avenue. One all-stops bus route passes centrally through Seven Hills along a corridor that includes Agnew Street, Oateson Skyline Drive, and Stanley Road, with closely spaced bus stops. This route provides a relatively direct but infrequent connection between Fortitude Valley and Carindale Shopping Centre. A peak route and an all-stops route provide a relatively direct but infrequent connection between Fortitude Valley and Cannon Hill Shopping Centre, passing along the southern border of Seven Hills on a corridor that includes  Stanley Road and Perth Street, Camp Hill. The most significant stop, Seven Hills express stop 42, is located on Agnew Street in the northwest corner of the suburb. The suburb is situated within TransLink Zone 2, which makes it attractive to city commuters with respect to relatively cost effective transit travel. Cycling and Walking. The suburb is reasonably amenable to local recreational cycling due to its relatively quiet traffic conditions, although the moderate to hilly terrain may pose a challenge to some. There are no formal off-road bicycle facilities in Seven Hills. However, as at February 2016, the main  thoroughfare of Oateson Skyline Drive includes formal bicycle lanes, which continue southward along Wiles Street, Camp Hill and provide connectivity with the citywide bicycle network. Although traffic conditions are generally quiet, the road and street network has a meandering structure and moderate to hilly terrain, which impose some impediment to local walking opportunities. However, the presence of urban borders (verges) on all roadways promote relatively safe walking conditions. There is also a small network of narrow, and generally steep heritage walking paths located within public easements between residential properties. The higher order local streets and the major roads mostly have  paved footpaths on one or both sides. Oateson Skyline Drive is median divided and contains kerb extensions that promote safe pedestrian crossing. Aside from a small number of local parks, the major recreational walking attraction is the 52 Hectare Seven Hills Bushland Reserve located on the north east side of the suburb. The reserve contains a well kept, signed network of tracks for walking and fire access. Education. Seven Hills State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 152 D'Arcy Road (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 522 students with 38 teachers (33  full-time equivalent) and 25 non-teaching staff (14 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program. Demographics. The recorded 2,028 residents in Seven Hills, of whom 50% were female and 50% were male. The median age of the population was 35; 2 years below the Australian median. 80.6% of people living in Seven Hills were born in Australia, with the next most common countries of birth being England (3.6%), New Zealand (3.6%), South Africa (0.8%), India (0.6%), and the United States (0.6%). 90.3% of people spoke English as their first language, while the other most common responses were  Japanese (0.6%), Mandarin (0.6%), Spanish (0.5%), Tagalog (0.4%), and German (0.4%).