Termination Hill was named by explorer John Oxley at the termination point of his first voyage up the Brisbane River in December 1823.[9]
Real estate map of Wolston Station Estate, circa 1900
Wolston House was opened in 1852. Still intact today the building is the only surviving early Brisbane River settlement.[10] The building was planned to be demolished however the National Trust of Queensland intervened to save the building. Major conservation work was undertaken.
The Wolston railway station was opened on 8 October 1874, taking its name from Wolston House. However, the name caused confusion with the Wilston railway station, so it was renamed on 8 July 1927 to Wacol railway station. Wacol is a coined word from weigh coal, as the principal purpose of the station was coal handling.[6][11] The suburb takes its name from its railway station.[3]
A portion of Wacol comes from the Wolston Estate, consisting of 54 farms on an area of 3000 acres, offered for auction at Centennial Hall, Brisbane, on 16 October 1901.[12][13] Wolston Estate is the property of M. B. Goggs, whose father obtained the land forty years previously in the 1860s and after whom Goggs Road is named.[14] Only three of the farms sold at the original auction.[13]
In 1879, the local government area of Yeerongpilly Division was created. In 1891, parts of Yeerongpilly Division were excised to create Sherwood Division becoming a Shire in 1903 which contained the area of Wolston Estate. In 1925, the Shire of Sherwood was amalgamated into the City of Brisbane.[15]
Carole Park State School opened on 17 September 1948.[18]
Also, in the post-war period, the suburb increasingly became home to correctional and mental health facilities.
HM Prison Wacol opened in 1957 with a special wing for the Wacol Security Patients' Hospital (for the mentally ill). In 1988 it is renamed Wacol Correctional Centre, then in 1996 Moreton Correctional Centre. In 1999 it is closed and rebuilt as the Wolston Correctional Centre.[19]
In 1984, the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Centre (a secure facility for young offenders and "troubled" children, formerly known as the Wilson Youth Hospital) and its associated Sir Leslie Wilson School relocated from Windsor to Wacol. In 1994 it was renamed the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre in 1994.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
Barrett Adolescent Centre Special School opened on 29 January 1985.[18] It provided education for children with mental health issues. It closed as a full-time school in 2013, but was relocated to Tennyson where it provides part-time support to children with mental health issues but who remain enrolled full-time in other schools.[26]
The John Oxley Youth Detention Centre opened at 139 Wacol Road in 1987.[27] On 15 July 1994 John Oxley School opened to provide education to children held in the John Oxley centre.[28]
In the 2011 census, Wacol had a population of 2,957 people.[31]
In the 2016 census, Wacol recorded a population of 3,761 people; 18.9% female and 81.1% male. The median age in Wacol was 33 years, 5 years below the Australian median. There was a marked over-representation of people aged between 20 and 44 years in Wacol, where they accounted for 68.6% of the population, compared to the national figure of 34.6%. The young and old were under-represented: children aged under 15 years made up just 2.9% of the population (18.7% nationally) and people aged 65 years and over made up 5.2% of the population (nationally 15.8%). 79.4% of people living in Wacol were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7%; the next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 6.4%, Vietnam 1.9%, England 1.7%, Philippines 0.9%, Samoa 0.5%. 15.8% of people spoke only English at home; the next most popular languages were Vietnamese 1%, Tagalog 0.4%, Spanish 0.3%, Mandarin 0.3% and Italian 0.2%.[32]
In the 2021 census, Wacol had a population of 4,253 people.[1]
The Ipswich Motorway crosses the suburb. A major upgrade of the road was completed in 2010.[52] The Logan Motorway connects to the Ipswich Motorway in the south of the suburb.
^ ab"LATEST NEWS IN BRIEF". The Queenslander. Vol. LXI, no. 1353. Queensland, Australia. 26 October 1901. p. 780. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"SALE OF WOLSTON ESTATE". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LVIII, no. 13, 651. Queensland, Australia. 12 October 1901. p. 4. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Principal's welcome". Barrett Adolescent Centre Special School. 29 April 2019. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
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