Logan City Council

Logan City Council is a Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. The city borders the state capital Brisbane City to the north and Gold Coast to the south. In terms of population, Logan City is the third largest city in Queensland. The city also borders a number of shires, including Beaudesert and Redland making it one of the fastest growing urban areas in Australia.

In June 2006, the Division 4 local councillor, Aiden McLinden, suggested Logan City change its name to Silver City.^{[citation needed]} His reason for the name change were - Logan has a bad name and associates the city with crime; and the man the city was named after, Patrick Logan was a ruthless tyrant.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Governance
3 Miscellaneous
4 Transportation
5 Suburbs
6 External links

[edit] History

The area that is now Logan City was first settled in 1842. The area was first incorporated as a shire in June 8, 1978, then became a city on January 1, 1981. It was named after Captain Patrick Logan, one of the founders of the Moreton Bay convict settlement. Logan gave his name (or had it given) to a lot of locales in the district, such as the Logan River, the suburbs of Loganlea, Logan Village (Beaudesert Shire), Loganholme, Logan Reserve and Logan Central, The Logan Motorway and Logan Road, which connects Logan City with the nearby state capital of Brisbane.

[edit] Governance

Logan consists of three tiers of government known as local, state and federal.

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. However, to a significantly lesser degree, Logan is also represented by a number of surrounding electorates including Forde to the south, Moreton to the north and Oxley to the west.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Logan City has some affluent suburbs, such as Springwood, Daisy Hill, Shailer Park, Cornubia and Forestdale.

There are however many less affluent areas including parts of Woodridge and Logan Central, Kingston and Loganlea. Many of these areas began as Housing Commission estates in the 1970s, originally rental or rent-buy detached suburban homes, but are now mostly owner occupied. Many of the original Housing Commission tenants/assisted purchasers were immigrants (many from Asia), which is still reflected in the multicultural/ethnic flavour of many shops and eateries in Logan City.^{[citation needed]}

When the large Housing Commission estates in Woodridge due east of Woodridge railway station were developed, sewer lines had not yet extended to the area, but were planned to do so in the very near future. In order to reduce costs, rather than provide septic tanks and leachfields, the Housing Commission provided Thunderboxes (outhouses with a large galvanised bucket (aprx 30 litres) which were collected and exchanged for fresh empty cans weekly/twice weekly by contractors), this being the last new development in the Brisbane area to rely on thunderboxes. An unexpected side effect of this service was that the back fence gates between properties to allow ready access by the contractors encouraged communication between neighbours, fostering the rapid growth of a sense of community despite the disparate ethnic backgrounds of the residents.^{[citation needed]}

In recent years some original homes have been demolished to make way for higher density housing, and for commercial premises. New developments in Logan City have seen many town house estates and lowrise apartment blocks.^{[citation needed]}

There are extensive industrial and commercial areas, mostly in the north/east of Woodridge, and west of Springwood and Daisy Hill, clustered in the triangle formed by Logan Rd/Pacific Highway and Kingston Rd, and extending west along Compton Rd.

[edit] Transportation

The city is reasonably well served by transportation links. An interstate railway line runs through its western areas but is currently unused for local passenger services. Logan City is serviced by the Beenleigh Line and Gold Coast Line. The stations in Logan City are Trinder Park, Woodridge, Kingston and Loganlea, although Gold Coast trains stop only at Loganlea. 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.