Sippy Downs, a residential suburb with a significant range of educational institutions, is on the Sunshine Motorway as it approaches the southern part of Mooloolaba. Over half the suburb is occupied by the Mooloolah River National Park in the east, a mixture of marshland, sand flats and forested grassland. It was named after the Sippy Creek, itself named after an Aboriginal word thought to mean birds.
In 1994 the Sunshine Coast University College was opened, positioned close to the Motorway in the north-west of Sippy Downs. It attained full university status in 1999. A small housing estate began near the university, separated from it by sites for Catholic primary and secondary schools. By 2004 there were a Montessori school, Siena primary, Siena secondary (1996), Chancellor State primary and Chancellor State College (2004) distributed around the university.
Chancellor Park housing estate adjoins the education precinct. By 2001 it had 820 families, taking just over a quarter of the projected house sites. A final population, including student accommodation, was estimated at 10,000. In 2003 a cane farm (354 ha) was subdivided for 3000 home sites, with the first land release scheduled for 2008. The predictions did not account for the linear lakes system turning into 'toxic sludge' in 2008. There were seven land developers at various times, with few or none committed to long-term maintenance. Roads were also under-provided, as the Maroochy Shire's attitude to the area was that it was 'drainage problem', and had at various times refused planning approvals that had been successfully appealed.
The Chancellor Park marketplace has a supermarket and other shops for everyday needs, and the Hibiscus retirement resort has 400 units.
The census populations of Sippy Downs have been:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 6802 |
| 2011 | 9087 |
