Stephens Shire (1886-1925), an urban and residential area of nine sq miles, extended south from Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, to an irregular boundary passing through Moorooka.
The shire was created at the request of ratepayers, by severance from Yeerongpilly local government division which ran as far south as present day Forest Lake. It was most probably named after the Stephens family. Thomas Stephens (1819-77) was an alderman and mayor of Brisbane town council, and had a fellmongery on the Ekibin Creek, Tarragindi. He was also the parliamentary representative for South Brisbane. His son, William (1857-1925) was also a parliamentarian, and chairman of the Stephens division/shire nine times between 1887 and 1913. 'Stephens Mountain' is between the Ekibin Creek parklands and Greenslopes private hospital.
Stephens Shire's boundaries were, approximately, Cornwall Street, Logan Road, Mansfield Road/Rocky Water Holes Creek/Moolabin Creek, Brisbane River. It included the suburbs listed under further reading below. The shire was served by the South Coast railway line (1885), the branch to Corinda through Tennyson (1884), the Ipswich Road tram (1899) and an extension from Annerley Junction to Yeronga Park, and the Logan Road tram (1915) to Greenslopes. The shire offices were in Ipswich Road, between Victoria and Junction Terraces. The shire's most enduring civic project is Yeronga Park, where it planted a memorial avenue of trees along Honour Avenue. There is also a domed war memorial pavilion and memorial gates on Ipswich Road, both installed in 1921. Fourteen percent of the shire's population enlisted for service in World War I. All of Yeronga Park is listed on the Queensland heritage register.
Stephens Shire was absorbed by the City of Brisbane in 1925. Its estimated populations were:
Census Date | Population |
---|---|
1887 | 3840 |
1923 | 12,403 |
Brisbane Centenary Official Historical Souvenir, Brisbane, Watson, Ferguson & Co Ltd, 1924
Annerley, Ekibin, Fairfield, Greenslopes, Moorooka, Tarragindi, Tennyson, Thompson Estate, Yeronga and Yeerongpilly entries