Before white settlement Bowen Hills was occupied by the indigenous Chepara people including the Brisbane, Ipswich and southern Jagera people. The higher parts were named Barrambin meaning windy place because they caught the breezes. It was one of the main campsites for the region, part of the Spring Hill, City area, where on occasions 700 to 1000 people were camped, including Brisbane locals, groups from Ipswich, the Tweed Valley, Wivenhoe, Rosewood, Logan, Stradbroke, North Pine and beyond. The area now occupied by the grounds of the Brisbane Exhibition Ground and Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital was named Walan, meaning Bream. The area of the present main Ekka oval was a "great fighting ground for the blacks". Barrambin was an important location for "kippa-ring" or initiation ceremony. Tribes from the coast would travel here to have their "kippa's" initiated. Early European settlement named the area beside Gilchrist Avenue York's Hollow. The Queensland Acclimatisation Society occupied Bowen Park in 1862, the area later known as the RNA Exhibition Grounds and home to the Brisbane Ekka. In 1866 Bowen Hills was defined as a postal district. Settlement increased in the 1870s. A post office was opened in 1878. The train station was opened in 1882. In 1886, William Perry, a local businessman, built Miegunyah House. The gracious Victorian era home remains intact today as a museum hosting historical talks and themed exhibitions. In the mid-twentieth century Bowen Hills was well known as the location of the Cloudland dance hall. Cloudland's domed structure on top of a hill was a prominent landmark on Brisbane's northside. Cloudland was controversially demolished in 1982 to make way for an apartment development. In the 1960s Queensland Newspapers built its headquarters at Campbell Street Bowen Hills having previously operated out of Adelaide Street. In the 2010s a number of new residential apartment complexes were constructed in the area, with a range of retail outlets built to cater to Brisbane's growing population.
Demographics
In the, Bowen Hills recorded a population of 3,226 people, 45.6% women and 54.4% men. The median age of the Bowen Hills population was 30 years of age, 8 years below the Australian median. 49.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was New Zealand at 3.9%. 59.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 4.8% and Spanish 3.2%. The most common response for religion was No Religion at 38.3%.
Heritage listings
Bowen Hills has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Virgin Australia Holdings; including Virgin Australia; and associated airlines Virgin Australia International Airlines and Virgin Samoa ; have their head office in Virgin Village in Bowen Hills. As of 2008 1,000 employees work at Virgin Village, which opened on 17 October 2008. In addition Sunstate Airlines, which operates under the QantasLink banner, has its head office in Bowen Hills. The headquarters of Brisbane's two newspapers, The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail, are located on Campbell Street, Bowen Hills. Also, the national headquarters of the Virgin Australia Holdings group of companies are located on Edmondstone Road. There are a growing number of retail outlets trading from and primarily catering to residents in the developing urban renewal area.
