Logan City is a Local Government Area (LGA) in South East Queensland, Australia. The city is situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and Gold Coast to the south. In terms of population, Logan City is the third largest LGA in Queensland. The city also borders the Scenic Rim and Redland City.

History

The Logan region was originally inhabited by Aborigines from two major language groups; the Yugambeh and the Jaggera. Their first contact with the Europeans occurred when the Commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Captain Patrick Logan. Patrick Logan was a compulsive explorer and in 1826 on his first expedition he discovered the Logan River. Patrick Logan 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 in recognition of Logan's enthusiasm and efficiency.

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.

Cotton was the first commercial crop grown in the region. While this crop was marginally successful, between 1866 and 1847, sugar was soon to become the staple industry.

Numerus sugar mills were built along the river, the earliest of which was Fryar and Strachan's on the Logan rive at Loganholme, built in July 1869. The catastrophic flood of 1887 was the end for many Logan river sugar farmers, crops were destroyed and covered with metres of silt. Even through the flood a small but viable sugar industry remains today on the south side of the river, centred on the Rocky Point mill.

The post war need for housing sparked the next wave of development of the region. Brisbane City introduced a new town plan in 1965, it required the provision of town water, sewerage and kerb and channelling to all new subdivisions. This led developers to purchase land in the northern sectors of Albert and Beaudesert Shires, where regulations were more relaxed. Urban development boomed in the Rochedale and Springwood areas from the late 60's and in Browns Plains from the early 70's.

Logan is declared a City

The department of Local Government instigated the formation of the new Logan shire, which included the northern suburbs of both Albert and Beaudesert Shires. 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 (Adjustment of Boundaries) Bill and which was officially approved on 8 June 1978. Logan then was declared a city on 1 January 1981 and the administration building o 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 the 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. 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.

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.^[5] The newer parts of Logan are within the 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.

Transportation

Logan City is serviced by Queensland Rail's Beenleigh and Gold Coast railway lines. The stations in Logan City are Trinder Park, Woodridge, Kingston, Loganlea, Bethania, Edens Landing, Holmview and Beenleigh although Gold Coast trains stop only at Beenleigh and Loganlea stations. Integrated ticketing was introduced in South East Queensland in 2004 through TransLink which has improved access to public transport. TransLink bus routes now service most of the built-up areas of Logan City.

Logan City Bus Service is a bus operator, servicing places between Brisbane and Gold Coast at Logan City. First operated as Greenline Bus Service, it was purchased by Clark's Bus Service in 1987. Further development included the purchasing of Rochedale Bus Service in 1995. The trading name of Logan City Bus Service was adopted in 2003. Logan City Bus Service operates a number of services under the TransLink banner, in which most services are based around Loganholme and Springwood Bus Stations along Pacific Motorway. They also operate peak hour buses between Logan City and Brisbane City.

There are also disability transport services available, as well as limousines, Coach Chaters and taxi services.

Culture and Sport

Logan has 871 parks and reserves all with combinations of facilities. Also Logan offers plenty of active choices such as local swimming pools, sporting clubs, cycling tracks, walking tracks, little athletics, tinnie trails (self guided heritage trail), golf, basketball/volleyball parks, skate parks, bmx tracks, walking groups and go karting.

Logan City has recently been under development for new bistro areas across the region. Cinemas, shopping complexes and parks are prevalent. Logan City has a free public Art Gallery. The internationally successful Australian band Savage Garden, who sold 25 million albums, are from Logan and so does Jodie Henry, three time gold medalist n the pool at the 2004 Olympics and world record holder.

Logan City is home to Souths Logan Magpies rugby league team, one of the oldest existing rugby league clubs in Australia. It is also home to the Logan Thunder WNBL team.

Suburbs

Until 2008, Logan had a stable boundary with neighbouring local government areas such as Beaudesert, Albert (later merged into Gold Coast) and Brisbane. The following suburbs were included within the pre-2008 area:

In 2008, areas in northern Beaudesert as well as the Beenleigh conurbation in the Gold Coast were merged with Logan. As well as uniting Logan Reserve and Greenbank under one local government area, the following areas were added: