Wandal

Wandal, a residential suburb of Rockhampton, is two km north-west of the city centre. It was named after the residence of Alex Jardine (explorer and pastoralist), and the sale of the 120-lot Wandal Estate in 1912 coincided with the development of the suburb. A tram service (1909) greatly assisted residential growth.

Before the tram service Wandal was an out-of-town showground area, the Fitzroy and Gracemere agricultural societies having agreed to stop competing with each other's annual shows and having a combined showground (1887) where they have amalgamated and functioned ever since. The tram line approached the show ground from Baden Powell Street (1909) and an extension ran west along Wandal Road (past Jardine Park and the Wandal Estate) to Naughton Street (1922).

North of the Wandal Estate, the Hall Estate was put up for sale in 1912. The estate, and more so its family name were already famous. Walter Hall and his brother formed the syndicate to develop the Mount Morgan mine (1880s), and he and his wife were notable benefactors (hence Walter and Eliza Hall charitable trust). The Hall primary school, on the tram line along Murray Street, was opened in 1910. Not long following, St Joseph's Catholic primary school was opened in 1916. Next to the school is the strikingly modern St Vincent de Paul church (1974).

Wandal Road developed a strip shopping centre, with the Lionleigh Hotel and the Gem Cinema. Along the Fitzroy River, Wandal's northern boundary, the Victoria Park area was reserved. Although at first used for sewage disposal, the practice fortunately ended before Victoria Park became a popular riverside swimming venue. It was planted with trees in the 1920s, making it a favoured place for recreation. The park also has Rockhampton's first Olympic swimming pool and the Rockhampton Bowls Club. In 1960 a site opposite Victoria Park was chosen for a new Rockhampton high school, replacing the one that had been in Canning Street since 1919.

Wandal's housing stock is mainly interwar and early post World War II, mostly high-set.

FLOODS 2011

The main victims of floods in early January 2011 in Wandal were parklands: Victoria Park and Jardine Park, from the Fitzroy River, and Fontaine and Garden Parks from the Lion Creek. (In neighbouring West Rockhampton flooding was much more extensive.)

Wandal's census populations have been: