The northern part of Stretton includes several hills, but the land flattens out towards the south. The southern part has more vegetation, as it joins Karawatha Forest to the south-east and the Calamvale Creek wetlands on the south-west.[citation needed]
History
In the early 19th century, the area and many of today's suburbs around the Sunnybank area were part of a vast area known as Coopers Plains. In 1861, Governor Bowen declared a wide area that included Eight Mile Plains to Stretton as a Brisbane Agricultural Reserve.[4] This agricultural reserve was originally used as a source of timber, but when it was found to be good farming land, settlers quickly turned it into farms that produced sought-after fruit, vegetables, and poultry.[citation needed]
A military map from 1922 shows only four houses in the area that is now Stretton.[citation needed]
Stretton was gazetted as a suburb of Brisbane in 1972, and was named after George Stretton, a settler, postmaster and hotelier at Browns Plains in the 1870s.[5][6]
In 1989, there was controversy regarding the sale of land to Asian investors.[7]
Stretton State College opened on 1 January 2006.[8]
Demographics
In the 2011 census, Stretton had a population of 4,067 people, 51.5% female and 48.5% male. The median age was 36 years, 1 year below the Australian median. 41.6% were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%. The next most common countries of birth were China 7.1%, Taiwan 7%, New Zealand 4.1%, Hong Kong 4% and India 3.1%. 41.4% of people spoke only English at home. The next most popular languages were 16.2% Mandarin, 11.3% Cantonese, 3.3% Vietnamese, 2.9% Hindi and 2.4% Korean. The weekly median household income in Stretton was $1,843, compared to the national median of $1,234. This difference is also reflected in real estate, with the median mortgage payment being $2,400 per month, compared to the national median of $1,800.[9]
Stretton is home to Hope Christian Assembly, a multicultural Pentecostal Church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches which holds services at Stretton State College.[14]
In addition to small local shops, Calamvale Village on Kameruka Street and Sunnybank Hills Shopping Town on Compton Road provide basic shopping. Westfield Garden City at Upper Mount Gravatt is a larger shopping centre nearby.[15]
