Yeronga

Yeronga Brisbane, Queensland
Brisbane Corso Reserve of Yeronga
Yeronga
Coordinates	27°30′50″S 153°00′54″E / 27.51389°S 153.01500°E / -27.51389; 153.01500Coordinates: 27°30′50″S 153°00′54″E / 27.51389°S 153.01500°E / -27.51389; 153.01500
Population	5,540 (2011 census)
• Density	1,850/km2 (4,800/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	4104
Area	3 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Location	7 km (4 mi) from Brisbane
LGA(s)	City of Brisbane (Tennyson Ward)
State electorate(s)	Yeerongpilly
Federal Division(s)	Moreton
Suburbs around Yeronga: St Lucia Dutton Park Fairfield Indooroopilly Yeronga Annerley Tennyson Yeerongpilly Moorooka

Yeronga is a residential suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia located on the Brisbane River 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of the Brisbane central business district.

The name Yeronga is thought to be either derived from the Aboriginal words yarung (meaning sandy or gravelly) and ba (meaning place), or that it derives from the name of the house Yerong-lea, the residence of Charles Hardie Buzacott.

The first inhabitants of the Yeronga area were the Jagera people, whose traditional country is the south side of the Brisbane River.

In 1823 the first Europeans passed through the Brisbane region, being the former convicts, then timber getters, Thomas Pamphlett, John Finnigan and Richard Parsons. Their journey around the Moreton Bay area following being blown off course by a cyclone is an epic story in itself. Suffice to say that in their attempt to walk north along the coastline to Sydney (they thought the cyclone had pushed their boat south of Sydney) they followed the south bank of the Brisbane River (around May 1823) upstream through Yeronga to Oxley Creek (originally named Canoe Creek), where they found a bark canoe and used it to travel further north. The present Pamphlett Bridge at that spot honours the member of the party who could swim, as the canoe was on the west bank of the creek.

The explorer John Oxley sailed into Moreton Bay in November 1823 but didn’t see the entrance to the Brisbane River due to the extensive mangrove forest there at the time. He then sailed north and encountered Pamphlett and Finnegan around Bribie Island (Parsons had continued north to the Noosa area). Finnegan then guided Oxley to the entrance of the river, where he sailed upstream as far as Goodna. Thus whilst Oxley is traditionally credited with the discovery of the Brisbane River (and Canoe Creek was renamed in his honour), but for his encounter with Pamphlett and Finnegan he may never have known it was there.