Fortitude Valley, Queensland


Fortitude Valley is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the, Fortitude Valley had a population of 6,978 people.

Geography

Fortitude Valley lies immediately northeast of the Brisbane central business district, and is one of the hubs of Brisbane's nightlife, renowned for its nightclubs, bars and adult entertainment.

History

Scottish immigrants from the ship SS Fortitude arrived in Brisbane in 1849, enticed by Rev Dr John Dunmore Lang on the promise of free land grants. Denied land, the immigrants set up camp in York's Hollow waterholes in the vicinity of today's Victoria Park, Herston, Queensland. A number of the immigrants moved on and settled the suburb, naming it after the ship on which they arrived.
Fortitude Valley National School opened on 4th March 1861 in a hall attached to the Foresters' Arms Hotel on the corner of Ann and Brunswick Streets diagonally opposite the Royal George Hotel. The first purpose-built school opened at 95 Brookes Street on 12th August 1867. In 1874 an additional building was erected at 99 Brookes Street and the school was split into two separate departments - Fortitude Valley Boys' State School, and Fortitude Valley Girls' and Infants' State School. The year 1887 witnessed the opening of a further new school building for boys at 85 Brookes Street and in 1888 the Girls' and Infants' School was split again to create Fortitude Valley Girls' State School, and Fortitude Valley Infants' State School. In 1950 the Boys' and the Girls' campuses were amalgamated as the Fortitude Valley State School on the site of the former boys' school which was demolished in 1948/49. In 1951, the Infants' School merged with the Fortitude Valley State School. The school closed in December 2013 due to low student numbers, despite a prolonged campaign by parents and students to keep it open. The Queensland Government argued that there was another school only away that could accommodate the students.
All Hallows' School opened on 1 November 1861 by the Sisters of Mercy in the Dean's Cottage beside the Catholic Cathedral in Adelaide Street in the Brisbane town centre. It was the first secondary school for girls in Queensland. Needing more space to accommodate a growing school they moved on 1 November 1863 to the house Adderton on Duncan's Hill in Fortitude Valley.
A post office was established in 1887.
St Patrick's Catholic Church was built in Wickham Street by Father James Hanly, uphill from the Prince Consort Hotel. St Patrick's Convent School was established later at the Wickham Street site. Both were wooden structures. In 1882, the congregation moved to a new St Patrick's Church in Morgan Street. On 5 December 1887, Cardinal Moran laid the foundation stone for a new school building in Ivory Street opening onto Hope Street at the rear. The new school opened on January 1889. In 1952 Brisbane City Council announced that it would be undertaking work in Ivory Street as part of a solution to eliminate traffic bottlenecks and St Patrick's School was one of the affected properties. In 1955 the school buildings were relocated to the church grounds in Morgan Street. The school closed on 19 November 1982.
1891 saw the train line extended from the Brisbane central business district into Fortitude Valley, and Thomas Beirne opened a business on Brunswick Street. His business thrived and, after extension, he travelled to England in 1896, leaving his manager of two years, James McWhirter, in charge. Soon after his return, McWhirter established a competing drapery business opposite Beirne's in 1898. Beirne and McWhirter became keen rivals and are credited with establishing the Valley as a hub of commerce from the late 1890s.
In the late 19th century, commercial activities in Brisbane were divided along religious lines, with Protestant shopkeepers setting up along Queen and Adelaide Streets in the central business district, and shops operated by Roman Catholics in Stanley Street, South Brisbane. However, in the 1893 Brisbane flood, major floods wiped out many shops in South Brisbane, and owners in that area decided to move and set up operations north of the river in an area free of flooding. The area they chose was Fortitude Valley. By that time Brisbane's horse-drawn tram system already centred on Fortitude Valley, making it the logical choice to establish a shopping precinct.
Fortitude Valley was also strongly advocated as the location of a new town hall in what became known as "the battle of the sites". Brisbane Town Council already purchased a piece of land in Fortitude Valley and supporters of the Fortitude Valley site pointed out that it would allow stronger foundations compared to the swampy site proposed at Adelaide Street in the existing commercial district. However, a petition was raised in support of the Adelaide Street site and with the support of Charles Moffatt Jenkinson, the mayor of Brisbane in 1914, it was chosen over the Fortitude Valley site. Jenkinson committed the council to that decision by selling the site in Fortitude Valley to the Catholic Church for the construction of the Holy Name Cathedral.
From the early 1900s through to the 1960s, the thriving shopping precinct was dominated by McWhirters, Beirne's and, later, Overells' department stores. The Overells Building was completed in 1907. They were ultimately bought out by the Myer, David Jones and Waltons chains respectively with Overells being bought by Walton in 1956. Woolworths and Coles supermarkets and a host of smaller shops also flourished in the precinct during this period. Owing to its proximity to the central business district and the close concentration of public transport in the area, the Valley became the largest non-CBD shopping precinct in Australia through the 1950s and 1960s.
Between 1923 and 1948 mixed gender opportunity classes for the intellectually impaired and handicapped were conducted at the boys' school. In 1951 the Fortitude Valley Opportunity School was approved and operated as a separate entity in its own right shortly afterwards. The school closed in 1961.
The rise of suburban shopping centres and the closure of the tram network in 1969 sounded the death knell for Fortitude Valley, with a gradual decrease in customers. David Jones closed its Valley store in the 1970s and Myer closed its doors in the early 1990s, and the once-thriving commercial centre devolved to dilapidation. In the 1970s and 1980s, the area fell into disrepute and, with the tacit support of police and government, illegal gambling houses and brothels set up shop.
In 2010 the Music Industry College opened at 458 Wickham Street with 27 students. In 2014 the college relocated to its own premises at 38 Berwick Street.
In the, Fortitude Valley had a population of 6,978 people.
In 2017 the Angelorum College opened at 377 St Pauls Terrace as an independent Catholic school, established by families who had previously been home schooling their children.

Heritage listings

Fortitude Valley has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
As the first step to its revitalisation, the Chinatown Mall opened in 1987.
The 1990s saw the development of Fortitude Valley into a thriving live music scene and nightclub district. In 1991, the Brunswick Street pedestrian shopping mall was established. Thereafter, the Brisbane City Council led a concerted urban renewal campaign, encouraging high density residential development around the suburb.
In 2012, around 50,000 people head to Fortitude Valley's clubs, pubs and restaurants each weekend night. Around 30 venues are licensed to trade until 3:00 am.

Valley Music Harmony Plan

In 1999, residents' complaints about neighbouring clubs' live music threatened the closure of the Empire Hotel and the Press Club, two established venues. Musicians and their fans revolted through the "Save the Music" campaign and, 20,000 signatures later, petitioned Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government to address the emerging problem.
The Brisbane City Council commenced the development of a Valley Music Harmony Plan in July 2002. The aim of the Valley Music Harmony Plan is to manage the impacts of music noise on residents and businesses without compromising the viability of the entertainment industry in Fortitude Valley.
That resulted in 2005 in Fortitude Valley becoming Australia's first "Special Entertainment Precinct", designed to protect both live music and new residents through planning restrictions. The Special Entertainment Precinct status exempts entertainment venues within the area from the amplified noise requirements of the Liquor Act 1992, and allows council to manage amplified music noise under the Amplified Music Venues Local Law 2006. But it also requires new residential and accommodation development construction to achieve a minimum noise reduction of 25 decibels in the 63 hertz frequency band.

Drink Safe Precinct

The Fortitude Valley Drink Safe Precinct was a two-year-long trial starting in December 2010. Trials also took place in Surfers Paradise and Townsville. After one year club owners responded positively to the trial. Statistics released in May 2012 showed arrests, evictions and tickets for liquor infringements have declined.

Commercial area

Retailers

Fortitude Valley has a range of home retailers. Decorative and home shopping retailers include Coco Republic, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm, Matt Blatt, Winning Appliances, Harvey Norman, Nick Scali Furniture, Oz Design Furniture and Everyday Living. There are also several luxury car dealerships and boutique shops.

Transport

operates buses to, from and through Fortitude Valley. Fortitude Valley railway station serves all suburban and interurban lines, including Airport line service to Brisbane Airport. The station has four platforms and is located in Zone 1 of the TransLink integrated public transport system.

Taxis

Secure taxi ranks to enable patrons to catch a taxi home are set up at various strategic points and enable easy access without the need to hail a cab. Fortitude Valley has five locations with these ranks on Friday and Saturday night. Funding for this free service is provided by the Brisbane City Council, the Queensland State Government and the Taxi Council of Queensland. These secure ranks are manned by taxi supervisors and security guards to ensure commuters an orderly and safe environment whilst they wait for service. A 'Chaplain' service also operates where some people might be suffering the effects of excess drugs or alcohol and need some care and attention in a safe place rather than on a bench or footpath. The combination of these services have reputedly assisted in reducing the incidents of fights, disputes and arrests especially between the hours of midnight and 5 am on weekends.

Speed limits

On 24 August 2007, a speed limit was introduced to parts of Wickham Street, Ann Street, McLachlan Street and Warner Street. The speed limit applies between 10 pm and 6 am from Friday to Sunday night. The speed limit was introduced following safety audits of the Fortitude Valley identifying pedestrian-vehicle conflict as a major issue.

Population statistics

In the 2016 Census, there were 6,978 people in Fortitude Valley. Of these 54.0% were male and 46.0% were female. The median age of the Fortitude Valley population was 31 years, 7 years below the Australian median. Children aged under 15 years made up 4.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 4.7% of the population. 46.1% of people living in Fortitude Valley were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7; the next most common countries of birth were India 4.4%, New Zealand 4.2%, England 3.2%, Brazil 2.4% and Colombia 2.2%. 65.1% of people spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were Spanish 3.5%, Mandarin 2.7%, Portuguese 2.3%, Hindi 1.8% and Korean 1.8%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.8% and Catholic 18.0%.

Education

Angelorum College is a private primary and secondary school for boys and girls at 377 St Pauls Terrace. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 35 students with 4 teachers and 3 non-teaching staff.
Music Industry College is a private secondary school for boys and girls at 38-42 Berwick Street. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 80 students with 7 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff.
There are no government primary schools in Fortitude Valley; the nearest government primary schools are Brisbane Central State School and New Farm State School.
There were no government secondary schools in Fortitude Valley until the start of 2020 when the new Fortitude Valley State Secondary College opened.

Local events and culture

Valley Fiesta

The Valley Fiesta is an annual three-day event featuring free live music, market stalls, food and drink from many local restaurants and cafés, and other entertainment. Artists that have performed at the Valley Fiesta include Tim Rogers, Butterfingers, Evermore and The Preatures on the main stage and Nick Skitz and End Of Fashion at surrounding venues.

International Jazz Festival

The International Jazz Festival replaced the biennial Valley Jazz Festival in 2013. The festival is put on by Jazz Queensland. It is 5 five day festival generally held during the first week of June.

Straight Out of Brisbane (SOOB)

Straight Out of Brisbane was formed in 2002 by a group of emerging artists who wanted to create new opportunities in Queensland's independent cultural sector. The festival is not-for-profit artist-run event that features workshops, performances, exhibitions, screenings, live music and public art. The festival has been held every year up until 2007.

Fortitude Valley Diehards

Fortitude Valley Football Club, also simply known as "Valleys", were the oldest surviving rugby league team in Brisbane until their demise in 1995. In 2002, Valleys entered a partnership with another former Brisbane rugby league team, Brothers. Playing under the name Brothers-Valleys until changing their name to Brothers Diehards for the 2004 season. Valley's Juniors are still active members of the QRL South East Division having been based at Emerson Park in Grange since the 1970s.

Big Gay Day

Big Gay Day is a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride festival held over one day in and around the Wickham Hotel in Fortitude Valley. The celebration raises money for GLBT groups such as GLWA and Open Doors. Previous entertainment has included various local and international DJ's, performers such as Marcia Hines, Operator Please and TV Rock as well as drag shows.

Swimming

The Commercial Swimming Club trains at the Valley Pool and has produced many Olympic and World Champions.

Notable people