Norman Park is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Norman Park had a population of 6,842 people.
Geography
Norman Park is located by road east of the CBD. It borders East Brisbane, Coorparoo, Camp Hill, Morningside and Hawthorne, and is mostly residential.
Toponymy
Norman Park is likely named after an early estate in the area. The estate is thought to have derived its name in the 1890s from the nearby Norman Creek, and the contemporary Governor of Queensland Henry Wylie Norman.
History
Norman Park began taking in the first settlers in 1853. One of the early Deeds of Grant was in 1854 to Louis Hope of land totalling about 40 acres. Hope was a grazier and Ormiston Sugar Mill owner.
Initially, development in Norman Park was slow and almost ceased after the 1893 Brisbane floods. Industries in Norman Park at the time included dairying, leather and brooms.
Norman Park State School opened on 9 July 1900.
Between 1912 and 1926 a steam tram service to Belmont connected with the Queensland Government Railway at Norman Park. Initially the service was operated by the Belmont Shire Council. The service was suspended in 1924. The service was reinstated by the Brisbane City Council in 1925, but was again suspended in 1926. In 2006 remnants of the tramway's right of way could still be seen close to the railway station.
A major subdivision of 364 housing lots occurred in 1922 of the land formally owned by Louis Hope, however Norman Park remained a largely rural area until after World War II, when rapid development took place as the result of the construction of public housing.
In the 1940s and 1950s, extensive reclamation of land in the low-lying areas created parks and playing fields.
On 13 July 1924, Archbishop Gerald Sharp laid the foundation stone for the new brick Anglican Church of the Transfiguration at 40 Agnew Street to replace an earlier timber church. On 26 October 1924 Archbishop Sharp officially opened the church, dedicating it as a World War I memorial. Its final service was held on 25 February 2010. As the church was heritage listed, it could not be demolished so it was sold for $2.4M and redeveloped with an extension as a private home.
The Baptist Sunday school and hall in Norman Park were officially opened on Saturday 4 April 1936 by Reverend George Haughan (President of the Queensland Baptist Union). The buildings were built at the rear of the block of land to allow a church to be built at the front at a later time. It was an initiative of the younger members of the Jireh Baptist Church in Fortitude Valley.
Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School opened on 3 February 1948 and closed on 9 December 1973.
Norman Park Uniting Christian School opened on 1981 and closed on 1983.
Agnew School opened in Agnew Street on 3 February 2003. The school relocated to Wakerley in 2008 and, as at 2020, is known as the Brisbane campus of One School Global. It is associated with the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
Demographics
In the , Norman Park recorded 6,003 people, of whom 50.7% were female and 49.3% were male. The median age of the population was 33; four years younger than the Australian median. 77.2% of people living in Norman Park were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%. The other most common countries of birth were England (3.8%), New Zealand (3.4%), South Africa (0.8%), Germany (0.7%), and Ireland (0.7%). 87.4% of people only spoke English at home, while the next most commonly spoken languages were Greek (0.8%), German (0.6%), French (0.5%), Italian (0.5%), and Japanese (0.4%).
In the , Norman Park had a population of 6,287 people.
In the , Norman Park had a population of 6,842 people.
Heritage listings
Norman Park has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: 68–88 Agnew Street: Norman Park State School 75 McIllwraith Avenue: Eulalia 97 Wynnum Road: former Brisbane City Council Tramways Substation No 9
Education
Norman Park State School is a government primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at 68–88 Agnew Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 457 students with 36 teachers (29 full-time equivalent) and 16 non-teaching staff (11 full-time equivalent). Coorparoo State School in Coorparoo and Seven Hills State School in Seven Hills also enrol students from the southern part of Norman Park.
There are no secondary schools in Norman Park. The nearest secondary school is Coorparoo Secondary College in Coorparoo.