Live in Queensland
A 1973 southeast community wedged between the Bow River and Fish Creek Provincial Park, immediately south of Diamond Cove.
Queensland's land was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 and development began in 1973. It was originally named Queensland Downs and renamed at an unrecorded date; there is no evidence the two names ever described two separate places. Diamond Cove was carved out of it and separated in 1991. At the 2021 census it held 4,585 residents in 1,840 private households on a 1.55 km² polygon, 79 per cent of them owner households and 79 per cent of the occupied dwellings built between 1961 and 1980. Its eastern edge is the Bow River and Fish Creek Provincial Park.
Wedged between the Bow River and Fish Creek Park
Wikipedia bounds Queensland by the community of Diamond Cove to the north, the Bow River and Fish Creek Provincial Park to the east, Canyon Meadows Drive to the south and Bow Bottom Trail to the west. The Federation of Calgary Communities runs the community association's area further north, to Anderson Road and Deerfoot Trail, because it still covers Diamond Cove; the two descriptions differ on the north edge for that reason. Ward 14, in the City's South sector.
Queensland's land was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 and sat undeveloped for over a decade before construction began in 1973. It was built out through 1973–1975, with one small section in the southeast corner finished in the early 1980s.
The community's original name was Queensland Downs. It was renamed Queensland at an unrecorded date, and (worth saying plainly) there is no evidence the two names ever described two separate places; it is one community that changed its name once.
Its boundaries are almost entirely natural and civic rather than arbitrary: the community of Diamond Cove to the north, the Bow River and Fish Creek Provincial Park to the east, Canyon Meadows Drive to the south, and Bow Bottom Trail to the west. Diamond Cove was carved out of Queensland and separated from it in 1991, which is why the community association's own area still runs north to Anderson Road and Deerfoot Trail while Wikipedia stops the community at Diamond Cove.
Housing mix. At the 2021 census Queensland held 4,585 residents in 1,840 private households on a 1.55 km² polygon, down from the 4,743 the City's last civic census counted in 2019: the signature of a fully built-out, mature community. 63% of occupied dwellings are single-detached and 21% row houses, with semi-detached at 11% and apartments a 5% minority. 79% of households own.
Income. Median household income was $91,000 in 2020, against $98,000 across Calgary, and only 18% of households were spending 30% or more of income on shelter, against 23% citywide. Wikipedia still carries a $60,175 figure for this community; that is from 2000 and the City's own 2021 profile has replaced it.
- 79% of the occupied stock dates from 1961 to 1980 and none of it from after 2010. Original roofs, windows, furnaces and panels are at or past design life
- Wikipedia's income, rental and low-income figures for Queensland are from 2000. The City's 2021 profile is the current one and says something quite different
- The eastern boundary is Fish Creek Provincial Park and the Bow River. Genuine river-valley access, but also flood-plain proximity worth checking on a specific address
- No CTrain station sits inside the community; Canyon Meadows and Anderson stations are both a drive away
- Southcentre Mall is the nearest full retail centre, not inside walking distance
- Getting to the mountains means crossing the whole city. Budget well over an hour to Kananaskis
How Queensland got here
- 1961The land is annexed by the City of Calgary.
- 1973Development begins under the name Queensland Downs; the community is renamed Queensland at a date Wikipedia records as unknown. The two names describe the same place, not two separate sub-areas.
- 1974The Queensland Community Association registers as a provincial society on 13 December. Its hall is at 649 Queensland Drive S.E., with a 200-person main hall, a stage, a gym and a kitchen, plus tennis courts and an outdoor skating rink.
- 1975Fish Creek Provincial Park is established on 10 June along what becomes the community's eastern edge: 13.48 km² and more than 100 km of trails, the second-largest urban park in Canada.
- 1991Diamond Cove is separated from Queensland and becomes a community in its own right. The community association's area still covers both.
- 2000Wikipedia's figures for the community stop here: a median household income of $60,175, 13.2 per cent low income residents, 15.4 per cent of housing used for renting and 2.4 per cent of buildings condominiums or apartments.
- 2019The last civic census the City ran counts 4,743 residents in 1,905 dwellings, 1,847 of them occupied and 1,433 owner-occupied.
- 2021The federal census counts 4,585 people in 1,840 private households, 1,450 of them owners. Median household income for 2020 is $91,000, against $98,000 for Calgary, and 79 per cent of the occupied stock dates from 1961 to 1980.
Fish Creek Provincial Park at the back gate
Fish Creek Provincial Park: 13.48 km², more than 100 km of trails with 60 km of them paved, established 10 June 1975 and the second-largest urban park in Canada. It forms almost the entire eastern boundary, with the Bow River running along the same edge where the creek meets it. Sikome Lake, the park's public swimming lake, is a short drive around the valley. Alberta Parks publishes no season or fee for it on the park page, so check before you go.
What the map does not show: this is one of the closer river-valley addresses on this site: the park is a boundary, not a destination you drive to. The trade-off is the flood-plain proximity that comes with it; check flood mapping for a specific address before you buy.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Queensland
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Fish Creek Park and the Bow River sit right at the boundary; reaching Deerfoot Trail or the airport means routing around the park, which pushes those figures higher than the straight-line distance would suggest.
Every gym within reach
Queensland has no gym of its own. The nearest full facility is six to nine minutes away, and Fish Creek Park's trail network is the genuine free alternative, starting right at the community's edge.
- GoodLife Fitness at Southcentre Mall is the nearest commercial chain club, ten to fourteen minutes away
- Cardel Rec South and the Shawnessy YMCA share the South Fish Creek Complex at 333 Shawville Blvd S.E., a ten to nineteen minute drive south
- Cardel Rec South is a quad-arena facility with a gymnasium; the pool, climbing wall and fitness studio are the YMCA's side of the building
- Fish Creek Provincial Park's 100+ km of trails are free and start at the community's own boundary
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | 11150 Bonaventure Dr S.E.: a fitness centre, a warm beach-entrance pool with waves and a hot tub, a gymnasium and an arena, with drop-in fitness classes. | 6–9 min |
| Fish Creek Provincial Park trails open | Free option: more than 100 km of trails, 60 km of them paved, starting right at the community's eastern edge. | 1–2 min |
| GoodLife Fitness, Southcentre open | National chain club at Southcentre Mall. | 10–14 min |
| Cardel Rec South open | 100-333 Shawville Blvd S.E., in the South Fish Creek Complex: Calgary's only community-operated quad-arena facility, with a gymnasium and multipurpose rooms. It lists no pool and no fitness floor. | 10–15 min |
| Shawnessy YMCA open | 400-333 Shawville Blvd S.E., in the South Fish Creek Complex: a 25 m lane pool, a leisure pool and hot tub, a gymnasium, strength and cardio, a fitness studio and an indoor climbing wall, beside a Calgary Public Library branch. | 15–19 min |
Check current hours and membership terms before you plan around any of these. Trico Centre publishes no ownership or governance detail on its own site, so do not assume it works like a City facility.
Two schools inside the community, and the Catholic designation is elsewhere
Wikipedia names Haultain Memorial Elementary and Wilma Hansen Junior High as the two public schools serving Queensland, and both sit inside the boundaries. Neither school's own site publishes a grade range, a street address or an attendance area, so treat the years each covers as unconfirmed. No publisher this audit opened names a Catholic school inside the community.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Haultain Memorial School | Calgary Board of Education | Wikipedia names it as one of the two public schools serving Queensland. Its own site describes land-based learning and partnerships with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, and publishes no grade range, street address or attendance area. |
| Wilma Hansen School | Calgary Board of Education | The community's public junior high. Its own site publishes no grade range, street address or attendance area either. |
| Catholic designation | Both boards | No publisher opened for this audit names a Catholic school inside Queensland. Confirm the current designated Catholic elementary and junior high for a specific address with the Calgary Catholic School District, whose site refuses automated clients, before you buy. |
| Calgary Catholic School District | Calgary Catholic | Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current designated Catholic elementary and junior high for a specific address with the Calgary Catholic School District before you buy.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Fish Creek's packed-snow trails stay walkable right along the community's own boundary
- Canyon Meadows Drive and Bow Bottom Trail are both priority-plowed routes
- Trico Centre's pool and arena carry the indoor season
- Deer move down from the park into yards backing onto the river valley
- A chinook can clear the plowed banks at Deer Valley Market Place within a day
- Coldest stretches usually break before the month is out
- Bow River ice draws the occasional ice angler near the park's east edge
- Family Day fills Trico Centre and the community rinks
- Melt and refreeze on Queensland Drive and the community's side streets
- Fish Creek's paved spine reopens to cyclists ahead of the unpaved trails
- Spring break sends families to Southcentre and Trico Centre
- First bare ground appears on the slopes toward the river
- Migratory geese and ducks stage along the Bow River and Fish Creek confluence
- Last hard frosts hold off planting until the long weekend
- Haultain Memorial and Wilma Hansen's fields dry out for the season
- Deer Valley Market Place gets busy as the Co-op restocks for spring
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month end
- Fish Creek's cottonwoods and aspens leaf out along the valley
- The Queensland Community Association's tennis courts and fields come back into use
- Hail season begins in earnest across the southeast
- Sikome Lake, the swimming lake inside Fish Creek Park, comes back into use; Alberta Parks publishes no fixed season for it
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends at both community schools
- Thunderstorm season is fully under way
- Calgary Stampede, about 20 minutes north on Macleod Trail
- Sikome Lake at its busiest on hot weekends
- Evening thunderstorms roll in off the foothills to the west
- Fish Creek's shaded trails are the community's default cool-off route
- Sikome Lake is at its warmest, though Alberta Parks publishes no closing date, so check before you drive over
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Coyotes and deer are most active at dawn and dusk along the park's edge
- Harvest traffic builds on Macleod Trail south of the city
- School year restarts at Haultain Memorial and Wilma Hansen
- Fish Creek's day use areas quieten once the long weekend is past
- Fish Creek's aspens begin to turn along the valley
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Peak colour in Fish Creek Park, right along the community's own boundary
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall
- First snow is normal, and normally melts within days
- Shorter evenings noticeable by mid-month
- Dark by 5pm
- Indoor recreation season restarts at Trico Centre
- The Bow River begins to freeze along the park's edge
- Holiday retail season begins at Southcentre and Deer Valley Market Place
- Fish Creek's trails stay open on packed snow through the holidays
- Chinooks, when they come, can strip the snow overnight
- Holiday quiet across the community
- Bow River ice typically holds by month's end
7 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–7 of 7 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Queensland, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Calgary library.