A SHORT HISTORY OF FOREST HILL

In 1880, AJ Boyd purchased 975 acres (394.6 hectares) of land from the Queensland Government for reportedly five shillings an acre. The land was located approximately six kilometres south from the Main Line railway, towards Woodlands. Boyd named this property Forest Hill, after seeing Allan Cunningham‘s map of the region where he had marked a “forest hill”. A stopping place was established on the Main Line railway to service the property called Boyd’s Siding which later changed its name to Forest Hill.

Forest Hill was recorded as a railway station in 1881 and was located one kilometre east down the line from its later location. The railway station moved to its later location in 1886.

The first Forest Hill Post Office opened on 1 February 1890 at the railway station (replacing a receiving office named Forest Hill Siding open since 1889). The office moved to its current site at 40 Victoria Street on 7 January 1908.

Forest Hill Provisional School opened on 23 January 1893, becoming a state school in 1899.

Forest Hill was once home to five hotels, a hospital, a bakery and butcher, and was the largest rail freight hub for agricultural produce in Queensland.

The Forest Hill War Memorial was erected to commemorate those in the district who had died or served in World War I. It was unveiled by five mothers of deceased soldiers on 26 March 1921.

During the 2010–11 Queensland floods, much of the population of Forest Hill was required to be evacuated by helicopter to nearby Gatton to avoid rapidly rising floodwaters.

In the 2016 census, Forest Hill had a population of 968 people.