The semi-rural, leafy suburb is bordered by the Brisbane River to the south and east, and by Mount Crosby Road to the north and west.
History
Mount Crosby Provisional School opened on 30 January 1882 with 22 pupils under teacher Arthur Leigh. It closed on 31 December 1892, but soon reopened on 11 September 1893 as Mount Crosby State School under head teacher Samuel Rea. The modern locality of Karana Downs was developed from parts of the areas of Kholo, Lake Manchester, and Mount Crosby with of land being divided in 1973. The name Karana Downs was proposed by the developer; it has been suggested that Karana is an Aboriginal name meaning quiet place. Karana Downs was originally part of the Shire of Moreton and then later of the City of Ipswich. In the 1990s residents lobbied to become part of the City of Brisbane. In 2000 Kholo, Mount Crosby and Karana Downs were transferred from the City of Ipswich to became part of the City of Brisbane. In the 2011 census, Karana Downs had a population of 3,826 people.
Education
Mount Crosby State School is a government co-education primary school located on the eastern side of Mount Crosby Road in Karana Downs.
Recreation
Kookaburra Park is a large park on the bank of the Brisbane River. Prior to the 2010–11 Queensland floods, it included a boat ramp, children's play area, amphitheatre, fishing platform, and off-leash dog area. Virtually the entire park was destroyed by flood-waters in 2011; it has since been reopened with reduced facilities. Karana Downs also has many more parks such as Dumburbi Park, Kupi Park, Heritage Park, Burrun Park, Murri Park, Lion's Nature Trail and Illawong Reserve. Many of the streets and parks in Karana Downs have Aboriginal names. The Karana Downs Country Club has an 18-hole golf course, which formed part of the original plans for the Karana Downs development. In 2011, there were plans to redevelop the golf course into a medium density residential area; these plans were rejected by Brisbane City Council on 27 October 2011. An appeal to the Planning and Environmental Court by the developer was lodged but withdrawn in August 2012.
Public transport
Due to insufficient population density, according to the Transport Minister and Department, the suburb generally lacks public transport however, in late 2006, a taxi van with a capacity of 10 people, started ferrying people every 20 minutes from 6:30am to 9am from Karana Downs, and nearby Mount Crosby and Anstead, to Bellbowrie, where commuters can link up with TransLink bus route 444.
Demographics
In the Karana Downs recorded a population of was 3,826 people, 50.4% female and 49.6% male. The median age of the Karana Downs population was 36 years of age, 1 year below the Australian median. 76.2% of people living in Karana Downs were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were England 7.5%, New Zealand 3.8%, South Africa 2.1%, Germany 0.7%, United States of America 0.7%. 93.4% of people spoke English as their first language 0.6% Afrikaans, 0.5% German, 0.4% French, 0.4% Spanish, 0.3% Dutch.
Population history
In the 2006 census, Karana Downs had a population of 3,840 people. In the, there were 5,177 people residing in Karana Downs. Between the 1996 census and 2001 census, there was a 0.3% population increase.
