The name Nudgee is derived from the Yuggera word in the Yugarabul dialect nardha or nedgee meaning place of ducks, from nar meaning duck' and dha' meaning place.[3]
St Vincent's Orphanage (also known as Nudgee Orphanage) opened on Queens Road (formerly known as Orphanage Road) on 18 December 1866 with children transferred from St Vicent's Orphanage in New Farm. The orphanage was operated by the Sisters of Mercy and had its own school.[5] On Sunday 4 January 1885 BishopRobert Dunne blessed and officially opened a new church and convent in connection with the orphanage.[6] In 1935 the orphanage was renamed St Vincent's Home for Children. The school operated until the 1950s after which the children attended local schools.[5] The home closed in 1971. Having started with 47 children, over 10,500 children lived in the home throughout its operation. The site now accommodates the head office of Mercy Family Services, which provides services to children, adolescents and families.[7][8] The buildings of the orphanage complex are listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register (27°21′52″S153°05′38″E / 27.3644°S 153.0940°E / -27.3644; 153.0940 (St Vincent's Orphanage)).[9]
St Joseph's College (also known as Nudgee College) opened in January 1891 as a boarding campus of St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace by the Congregation of Christian Brothers.[5] Some of the buildings of the school are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register but the school is now within the suburb of Boondall, just west of Nundah Creek, which is the boundary separating Boondall from present day Nudgee.[20] In 1967 the course was increased to 27 holes.
In 1895 a paper was read at Brisbane's Natural History Society meeting at the Queensland Museum about the bora ring identified at Nudgee, described as a circle 50 feet (15 m) in diameter and sitting 18 inches (460 mm) higher than the surrounding land. It was believed there was a second bora ring in the area but it had been lost to farming. Bora rings came in pairs, one for the initiation of young men and the other for communal use.[21] Circa 2000, the surviving bora ring was thought to be the communal bora ring and being oval in shape with dimensions of 21 by 17 metres (69 by 56 ft) with an entrance to the west and that the smaller men's initiation bora ring was about 500 metres (1,600 ft) away near Redway Street.[22]
Nudgee was part of the Shire of Toombul until 1925 when the shire was amalgamated into the City of Brisbane.
Nudgee Golf Club was established on 18 January 1930 on land formerly used for grape growing by the Childs family. The first clubhouse opened on 21 January 1931. Initially the course had nine holes, which increased to 16 holes in 1950. On 6 November 1954 the club opened its new clubhouse.[23][24] In 1985 the Queensland Government wanted to resume part of the golf club's land to construct the Gateway Arterial Road (now the Gateway Motorway). Following two years of negotiations an arrangement was reached in which the government made additional land available to the south to compensate for the resumed land, enabling the course to be extended to 36 holes.[25]
In the 2011 census, Nudgee recorded a population of 2,856 people; 53% female and 47% male. The median age of the Nudgee population was 37 years of age, which was the same as the national median. Children aged under 15 years made up 19.8% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 15.4% of the population. 78% of people living in Nudgee were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 3.6%, England 2.5%, India 2.3%, Philippines 1.8%, Ireland 0.9%. 88.1% of people spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were 1.3% Filipino, 1.1% Punjabi, 0.6% Tagalog, 0.6% German, 0.6% Mandarin.[29]
In the 2016 census, Nudgee had a population of 3,578 people.[30]
In the 2021 census, Nudgee had a population of 4,377 people.[1]
Heritage listings
Nudgee has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
^"Queensland". Launceston Examiner. Vol. XLV, no. 4. Tasmania, Australia. 5 January 1885. p. 3. Archived from the original on 24 April 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Nudgee". The Queenslander. Queensland, Australia. 20 April 1872. p. 11. Archived from the original on 24 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2020 – via Trove.