Should Ipswich, Caboolture and Logan be considered part of Brisbane?

Ask anyone (or Google) what the population of Brisbane is. About two and a half million, right? Technically, that’s including the four surrounding local government areas (LGAs) – Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Logan, and the Redlands.

But they’re not really Brisbane, are they? 

Demographer Mark McCrindle said the definition of Greater Brisbane, which is the common name for Greater Capital City Statistical Division as outlined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics calls, stretches further than many people know..  

“Amazingly, it actually goes to the NSW border,” Mr McCrindle said. “It leaves out the coastal parts though, like the Gold Coast.”

The smallest definition leaves out everything besides the Brisbane City LGA. “To the south it’s got Stretton in it, then to the bay,” Mr McCrindle said. “Then it goes to Sandgate and then Brookfield in the west.

“Inala is just outside it, and that was Brisbane in 1970.” 

Mr McCrindle believes Greater Brisbane is the best description of Brisbane. And yes, that does include Ipswich, Caboolture, Logan and Cleveland.

“It’s a factor of the population growth realities,” Mr McCrindle said. “As cities grow they absorb those satellite cities around them and become an amorphous mass.”

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“They still have identities within that.”

Mr McCrindle said there is evidence of that in the way people from the city and the surrounds moved about and did business.

“For all intents and purposes Greater Brisbane is a commercial hub and most people look to the city for all sorts of things,” he said.

The idea of an amorphous Brisbane mass didn’t sit well with acting Ipswich mayor Paul Tully.

“We’re not part of Brisbane,” Cr Tully said. “We don’t hang off the coat-tails of Brisbane – we do our own thing.

“As they say in the classics, never the twain shall meet.”

Speaking for all of the satellite LGAs, Cr Tully said the divide was more than just separate identities.

“It doesn’t matter what people say or how they say it, all the other councils are councils in their own right,” he said.

Ipswich in particular had its own media organisations and local laws that set it apart, Cr Tully said.

“I think it’s driven by the fact that we have a daily newspaper, a local commercial radio station,” he said.

So there you have it. If you go by city identity, the satellite cities aren’t a part of Brisbane. But you could still say they are and still be technically correct. Got it?