Sandgate, Queensland
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Sandgate, Queensland, Australia, a suburb 30 minutes drive northeast of the central business district of Brisbane, with a population of nearly 50,000 people.
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Location
Sandgate is situated on the coastline, along Moreton Bay. The Houghton Highway Bridge, the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, connects the northern part of Sandgate to the city of Redcliffe to the north. It is connected to the Brisbane CityTrain Network. The suburb comes under the jurisdiction of the Brisbane City Council.
Name
The name of the area may have been inspired by Sandgate on the coast of county Kent, England. Sandgate in Kent had a military camp, Shorncliffe Camp, on top of the cliffs adjacent to it. Sandgate in Brisbane also has an adjacent Suburb called Shorncliffe.
History
Land in Sandgate became available in 1853, developing into a small settlement. The coming of the railway in 1882 promoted more rapid development of the Sandgate area. Travel to Brisbane by train could be completed in less than one half hour. Sandgate was declared a town by the Governor of Queensland in 1880. This new status meant a town council was formed to guide the development of the local area. Initially, the council chambers were located in Shorncliffe. However, following a fire which destroyed the council chambers in 1910, a much larger town hall was opened in 1911.
The Sandgate Council, which operated from 1880 to 1924, had to provide a range of services for the growing community. These included a fire department, ambulance, and sanitation facilities, as well as maintaining roads and regulating local development. In 1925 Sandgate council was amalgamated into the Brisbane City Council
Sandgate boasted clean beaches that were popular weekend destination, with thousands of people visiting from Brisbane to escape the heat.
Sandgate's popularity declined after 1930 due to new road access to better locations further north.
External Links
History of Sandgate (http://www.sandgate.org.au/sandgate_history) History of Sandgate 2 (http://www.sandgate.net/history/index.html)