Australia

Queensland

Samford Valley

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Interesting facts about Samford Valley

Samford is a valley community located in South East Queensland, Australia. It is roughly 21 km north west of Brisbane. It is located in the local government area of Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Location

Samford is probably the closest semi-rural acreage township to Brisbane. There are many acreage properties located in Samford Valley which are a short walk to the village centre. Access to Samford from Brisbane is along Samford Road. Drive 15 minutes to Ferny Grove. The busy city is left behind. Meandering another 5 minutes through the Samford State Forest brings us to the very pretty Samford Village. Samford is located adjacent to the Samford State Forest section of Brisbane Forest Park. Brisbane Forest Park comprises more than 26,500ha enclosing 16 separate recreation areas. This park is a favourite of bush walkers, bird lovers and picnickers. The wide variety of habitat provides a sanctuary for a broad range of native wildlife.

The D'Aguilar Range (Camp Mountain, Mt Nebo, Mt Glorious, Mount Pleasant) as well as the House Mountain Range more or less encircles the valley. While Samford supports a substantial population from the surrounding areas, the village itself has a population of only 656 in 2006 (rising from 448 in 2001).

Samford, Queensland is at coordinates 27°22′12″S 152°53′13″E / -27.370055, 152.886909 (Samford, Queensland)

Facilities

Samford Village contains a vast mix of historical buildings, restaurants, shops and services. Samford's heritage as a village servicing farming communities is apparent from the facilities which include a saddlery, hardware and produce stores, as well as banking, shopping, medical, chiropractic, fitness, legal and accounting. Samford must contain one of greater Brisbane’s most diverse mixture of first-class ethnic and traditional restaurants / takeaways.

Samford Valley Historical Museum
A popular tourist attraction is the Samford Valley Historical Museum.

John Scott Park
Located in the heart of the village, John Scott Park is the frequent venue of community cultural activities such as free concerts and holiday celebrations. The park contains excellent playground facilities for children, and is a popular venue for weekend barbecues.

Information Centre / Galleries / Boutiques
The Slab Hut Gallery is an information centre and art gallery located in John Scott Park at the centre of town. There are several boutiques and gift shops in the immediate vicinity of John Scott Park.

Scouting / Baden Powell Park / Heritage Centre & Museum
In addition to the Samford Scout Group, the Scout Association of Queensland operates Baden Powell Park. An easy walk to the Village, BP Park consists of 56 hectares of natural bush land bordering the Brisbane Forest Park. Included within the grounds are modern fully equipped conference facilities for up to 150 (including audio visual equipment), commercial kitchen, accommodation blocks, camping ground (for up to 500), swimming pool, dam, abseiling tower as well as walking trails of various grades throughout the park. The facilities at Baden Powell Park can be booked for conferences, scouting groups, school groups, or by the general public. Baden Powell Park is the venue for a number of activities open to the public such as laser skirmish and abseiling. The Baden-Powell Heritage Centre & Museum is also open to scouting groups and to the general public on weekends (check the website for opening times).

Sports & Activities

Some of the local sports played in and around town include:

Swimming
Horse riding
Soccer
Football
Cricket
Netball
Lawn Bowls
Samford Scout Group
Baden Powell Park
Sport and Recreation Facility - The Pine Rivers Shore Council has acquired the former CSIRO land which is on the northern edge of the village and comprises some 140 ha. The Council is planning a sport and recreation facility that will become a major resource for the residents of Samford Valley and the Pine Rivers Shire. The possible facilities include open space, camp ground, equestrian, tennis, netball, amphitheatre, kiosk, soccer and rugby league and parking.

Copies of the most up to date Master Plans are available by going to the Pine Rivers Shire Council website and searching for “park master plans”.

Education

The two local primary schools are Samford State School and Samford Valley Steiner School. Samford Valley Steiner School became a high school in the year 2006. A close high school is Ferny Grove State High school which is located approximately 10 minutes away at nearby Ferny Grove. Several private schools also maintain buses to Samford, including St Paul's School, Bald Hills, Padua College and St. Joseph's Nudgee College at Boondall.

History

Samford's very first inhabitants were an aboriginal tribe which belonged to the Waka language group, whose territory also included the upper Brisbane River and the South Burnett. While there are no aboriginal tribes still living in Samford, their history remains by means of the very well maintained Bora Ring at Wights Mountain, the burial site near Upper Camp Mountain Road and the records kept at the local historical museum. Although they're closer to Brisbane than most acreage areas in the Pine Rivers Shire, the secluded valleys of the upper reaches of the South Pine River were not settled by Europeans until the mid 1850s. After the subdivision of farms into acreage homesites commenced in the 1960s, and substantial upgrading of road access more recently, Samford has become a desirable rural residential address and hundreds of residents now commute from their homes to work in Brisbane.

This first business to open in the Samford area was a shop and bakehouse which was owned and built by Alex Lawson.

In 1919 the O'Hara's Hotel or the Samford hotel shifted to its current location where it still operates from today, the location where the hotel previously operated from before the moved was then brought and used by the CSIRO. In the late 1950s, this hotel again changed its name from the Samford Railway Hotel to the Golden Valley Hotel. By 1908, banana growing on the steep ridges at the foot of the ranges had become one of the most important industries in the Samford district. After World War 1, the Government created additional small farms so that returned servicemen with limited capital were able to get started in the industry. During 1926 and 1927, more bananas were consigned to southern markets from Samford Railway Station than any other railway station in Queensland. This success was short-lived, however, as a virus which had wiped out banana growing in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, 'Bunchy Top' disease, finally affected the crop and was the primary reason for the decline of the industry in the Pine Rivers Shire.

Climate

Samford has a sub-tropical climate with very hot humid summers and mild, dry, sunny winters. Most rain falls during the height of summer, between November and February.

Whilst summer maximum average temperatures generally linger around 30C, the summer months have some extremely hot days, sometimes as high as 40C.

Current realtime Samford weather details can be found here.