History of UQ

The University of Queensland was established by an Act of State Parliament on December 10, 1909 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queensland’s separation from the colony of New South Wales. Its foundation four months later made it the first university in the State and the fifth in the nation.

In 1911, 83 students (including 23 women) attended the first classes in Government House, George Street, Brisbane.

The First World War slowed development but afterwards, research and teaching burgeoned as demand for higher education increased. The fledgling University outgrew the buildings in George Street, and the search for a larger campus began.

A site at Victoria Park (now partially occupied by the Mayne Medical School) was secured by statute in 1922 as a possible permanent home for the University. In 1927 Dr James O’Neil Mayne, in association with his sister Miss Mary Emelia Mayne, provided over £50,000 to the Brisbane City Council to resume 274 acres of land at St Lucia and provide it to the University as its permanent home.

Named after the sugar-producing island of St Lucia in the West Indies, the area originally was used to farm sugar, arrowroot, cotton, maize and pineapples. A sugar mill, washed away by the 1893 flood, operated where the University boat shed now stands.

Lack of finance delayed development of the site. The University leased the land to the State Government for use as a Farm School administered by the Department of Agriculture and Stock, until construction on what would become the Forgan Smith Building began in March 1938.

The first building, later named the Forgan Smith Building after the Premier of the day, was completed in 1939. The Second World War diverted its use to military purposes and it served first as advanced headquarters for the Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific. The University's move from George Street to St Lucia was accomplished between 1946 and 1972.

In 1990, the University merged with Queensland Agricultural College (now UQ Gatton) as part of a unified national system abolishing the binary system of universities and colleges of advanced education. And in 1999, UQ Ipswich opened as one of the first purpose-built, completely Web-enabled campuses in Australia.

Malcolm I. Thomis' book, A Place of Light & Learning : the University of Queensland's First Seventy-five Years , provides information on the University’s history to 1985.
 

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