Scenic Mount Cotton is a semi-rural area known for its natural bushland, country lifestyle and award-winning winery.
Mount Cotton is all about rural lifestyle, with residential pockets set amid expanses of native bush.
It is here that you will find Sirromet Winery, Queensland’s largest and most highly awarded winery, restaurants and stunning views with family-friendly grounds including Supa Golf.
You also can walk through Venman Bushland National Park, where you just might spot wallabies, possums, sugar gliders, owls and other wildlife.
There’s a handy local shopping centre at 101 Valley Way, with the major shopping centre options at Capalaba, Cleveland and Victoria Point.
Historic Mount Cotton State School is the hub of this small, close-knit community.
Cleveland is the closest railway station, while Transdev Queensland operates bus services. There are bus interchanges at Capalaba and Redland Bay at Banana Street near Weinam Street.
Aboriginal people are credited with showing the Mount Cotton region to various early settlers including Jack Shears, the first European to cut timber in the area. Mount Cotton was settled mostly by people of German origins. Early settlers had to clear trees from the land before they could farm. Maize was the first crop grown and this was closely followed by sugar. South Sea Island labourers (Kanakas) were brought in to work the sugar plantations and this was a major industry until the late 1880s. Bananas later became a staple crop and many Chinese people were involved in this industry until the turn of the century.
In 1880 the Tingalpa Divisional Board, later Tingalpa Shire Council, was formed. It covered most of the area now bounded by the Gold Coast motorway to the east, and south from Mount Gravatt-Capalaba Road to the Logan River. The shire office was located at Mount Cotton, near the school, with a new building replacing it in 1935. Following the amalgamation of the south east and eastern parts of the shire with Cleveland Shire in 1949, the old Tingalpa Shire building became the Mount Cotton Community Hall.
Find more about our local history on our library Local History section.
Mount Cotton is in Division 6 (Deputy Mayor Councillor Julie Talty).
View Sheldon-Mount Cotton's national regional profile (Australian Bureau of Statistics)