Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestrian malls at Brunswick Street Mall and Chinatown, and is one of the hubs of Brisbane's nightlife, renowned for its nightclubs, bars and adult entertainment.
Geography
Fortitude Valley is built upon a low-lying marshy flat, immediately northeast of the Brisbane central business district.
History
Originally inhabited by the Meanjin peoples of the Turrbal and Jagera/Yuggera Indigenous groups. Later on, Scottish immigrants from the ship arrived in Brisbane in 1849 in hopes to take the land, enticed by Rev Dr John Dunmore Lang on the promise of free land grants. Denied land, the immigrants set up camp in York's Hollow waterholes in the vicinity of today's Victoria Park, Herston, Queensland. A number of the immigrants moved on and settled the suburb, naming it after the ship on which they arrived.
Fortitude Valley National School opened on 4 March 1861 in a hall attached to the Foresters' Arms Hotel near the corner of Ann and Brunswick Streets, diagonally opposite the Royal George Hotel. The first purpose-built school opened at 95 Brookes Street on 12 August 1867. In 1874 an additional building was erected at 99 Brookes Street and the school was split into two separate departments - Fortitude Valley Boys' State School, and Fortitude Valley Girls' and Infants' State School. The year 1887 witnessed the opening of a further new school building for boys at 85 Brookes Street and in 1888 the Girls' and Infants' School was split again to create Fortitude Valley Girls' State School, and Fortitude Valley Infants' State School. In 1950 the Boys' and the Girls' campuses were amalgamated as the Fortitude Valley State School on the site of the former 1887 boys' school which was demolished in 1948/49. In 1951, the Infants' School merged with the Fortitude Valley State School. The school closed in December 2013 due to low student numbers, despite a prolonged campaign by parents and students to keep it open. The Queensland Government argued that there was another school only away that could accommodate the students. However, it was reopened in January 2020 as Fortitude Valley State Secondary College in response to a growing population in the area. It was Brisbane's first new inner city school in more than 50 years, built vertically to fit in with the increased population density of the suburb.
A Primitive Methodist church opened in October 1861 in Windmill Street (now McLachlan Street).
All Hallows' School opened on 1 November 1861 by the Sisters of Mercy in the Dean's Cottage beside the Catholic Cathedral (now Old St Stephen's Church) in Adelaide Street in the Brisbane town centre. It was the first secondary school for girls in Queensland. Needing more space to accommodate a growing school they moved on 1 November 1863 to the house Adderton on Duncan's Hill in Fortitude Valley.
In 1862 the Jireh Baptist Church opened in Fortitude Valley.
A Primitive Methodist church opened at 483 Brunswick Street on Sunday 15 October 1876.
A post office was established in 1887.
St Patrick's Catholic Church was built in Wickham Street by Father James Hanly, uphill from the Prince Consort Hotel. St Patrick's Convent School was established later at the Wickham Street site. Both were wooden structures. In 1882, the congregation moved to a new (and still current) St Patrick's Church in Morgan Street. On 5 December 1887, Cardinal Moran laid the foundation stone for a new school building in Ivory Street opening onto Hope Street at the rear. The new school opened on January 1889. In 1952 Brisbane City Council announced that it would be undertaking work in Ivory Street as part of a solution to eliminate traffic bottlenecks and St Patrick's School was one of the affected properties. In 1955 the school buildings were relocated to the church grounds in Morgan Street. The school closed on 19 November 1982.
1891 saw the train line extended from the Brisbane central business district (the area around Queen Street) into Fortitude Valley, and Thomas Beirne opened a business on Brunswick Street. His business thrived and, after extension, he travelled to England in 1896, leaving his manager of two years, James McWhirter, in charge. Soon after his return, McWhirter established a competing drapery business opposite Beirne's in 1898. Beirne and McWhirter became keen rivals and are credited with establishing the Valley as a hub of commerce from the late 1890s.