I used to love my suburb for the hipster vibes. Now I’m here for the school catchment

July 13, 2026 — 5:00am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

I discovered Highgate Hill about 25 years ago as an undergraduate craving more cultural excitement than college campus life could provide.

To my naive eyes, Highgate Hill epitomised sophisticated city counterculture. More bookish than West End; grittier than St Lucia; its sprawling Queenslanders housed students in informal share arrangements, immediately identifiable to passers-by from the wafts of incense and Nepalese peace flags framing the verandas.

The romance of Highgate Hill student life was all about barefoot young men in fedoras with low-slung guitars “reading” Sartre or Pynchon. Hours spent not-studying in coffee shops. Impromptu house gigs and poetry slams.

Those memories now make me cringe. In fairness, university-me would probably cringe at current-me, recently returned to Highgate Hill as one half of a heavily mortgaged professional couple chasing a Brisbane State High School catchment address, so I suppose it’s quid pro quo.

Our postcode, 4101, is shared with livelier, larger suburbs – West End, South Brisbane and Dutton Park – bounded on the south by the Brisbane River. Highgate Hill’s key........

© Brisbane Times