Murrumba Downs, a residential suburb in the Pine Rivers district, is 26 km north of central Brisbane. Its eastern and southern boundaries are the Bruce Highway and the North Pine River. Originally part of Kallangur, Murrumba Downs was gazetted as a new suburb in 1979.
Murrumba was the name of Tom Petrie's farm holding (1859), and his Murrumba homestead was on the site now occupied by Our Lady of the Way Catholic school near the Petrie railway station.
Murrumba Downs included good farm land which was used for dairying, vegetable growing and pineapples. Rural activities continued until the 1980s, although the opening of a local primary school, Undurba, in 1978 signified the beginning of urbanisation. An early subdivision, Elm and Chestnut Drives, was near the new school. Among later subdivisions, some street names commemorated early farm families: the Ceccatos who grew vegetables, the Kubiaks and the Carusos. Ogg and Dohles Rocks Roads remember original settlers.
There are local shops and a swimming pool south of the State primary school, and a Lutheran primary school (2001) north of the State school. in 2012 a high school, Murrumba State Secondary College, was opened on land adjoining the State primary school; the College was the state's first school to transition Year 7 into the secondary setting. Linear parks run along Black Duck Creek, a tributary of Fresh Water Creek which is Murrumba Downs' northern boundary.
Census populations have been:
| area | population | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2006 | 2011 | |
| Murrumba Downs, Dakabin and Kallangur | 21,121 | ||
| Murrumba Downs | 7094 | 9393 | |
Julie Lewis, Murrumba Downs 1823 - 1991: who lived and laboured here, Brisbane, Boolarong Publications with J. Lewis, 1992
