Wilston

Wilston is a suburb north-east of Newmarket, five km north of central Brisbane. Enoggera Creek is its southern boundary.

The suburb was at first regarded as an outlying district of Newmarket, near the Newmarket saleyards (1877-1931), and was used for agistment, tanneries, fellmongering and dairying. There were also extractive industries.

Wilston and its neighbour Grange, were the rural parts of Windsor Shire, which was headquartered on Lutwyche Road, the main northern access route. Wilston was named after Wilston House (c1876) in Watson Street, Newmarket, and an early reference to it was the opening of Wilston post office in 1914. Within a year the Anglican St Albans church was opened in Inglis Street and the Catholic St Columba's church was opened in Kedron Brook Road, a short distance away. A convent school was opened in 1917. The train line to Newmarket station (1899) had a stop at Wilston, and settlement spread northwards from there to the desirable elevated slopes of Eildon Hill. Settlement overtook the Hill and in 1920 the Wilston primary school was opened to the north-west, now in the suburb of Grange.

Wilston Hill estate on the border of Newmarket was put up for sale in 1925. Three years before, a branch tram line from Lutwyche Road was opened along Maygar and Days Roads to Grange Road.

A civic precinct developed south of St Columba's church in Kedron Brook Road, with a Methodist church, numerous shops, a picture theatre, a service station, the Wilston School of Arts in Hewitt Street and the Salvation Army hall. The Presbyterian Church was further south near the railway station. Days Road's shops increased when the tram terminus arrived, and the Liberty cinema at the Kedron Brook Road corner was opened in 1930.

Wilston was an interwar suburb, most appealing on its elevated slopes. Eildon Hill, divided between Wilston and Windsor, had prestigious views and remains a very good address. Housing growth required a service reservoir on the Hill in 1929. The Kedron Brook Road shops - Wilston Village - have some competition from Newmarket Road but are far enough away from the Lutwyche Road strip and the Stafford City drive-in to keep a loyal following. Open space in Wilston is at Eildon Hill and along Enoggera Creek.

Wilston's census populations have been: