methods like traps and chemical stunning. 19th century Oxley Creek was named in honour of John Oxley who first surveyed it in December 1823. Initially Oxley had called the creek Canoe Creek. This was in recognition of the first Europeans to reach the creek, Thomas Pamphlett, John Finnegan, Richard Parsons who reached the area after being shipwrecked on Stradbroke Island. At Oxley Creek the three found two canoes, one of which was used to cross the river and travel downstream. In 1925, Edmund Lockyer, during his survey of the Brisbane River, named it Oxley Creek in honour of John Oxley. The suburb takes its name from the creek. The first land sale that covered parts of today's Oxley occurred in 1851. Oxley once covered a larger area including the suburbs of Chelmer, Graceville and Corinda to the north. It extended to the south into the current suburbs of Willawong and Durack. The first subdivision of residential lands occurred in 1864 near Douglas Street. Although the railway through the suburb connected Oxley to Brisbane, it was the road to Ipswich that defined the suburb's early development. A significant portion of the area now encompassing Oxley was originally leased by Thomas Boyland, in the early 1850s, with the area being known as Boyland's Pocket. This land was later subdivided for small farms, approximately from the 1860s. The suburb was a stop-over point on the Cobb & Co coach route west to the Darling Downs. The first hotel in Oxley was built in 1860 close to Oxley Creek on a rise near Factory Road. It attracted other businesses to the area and provided refreshments for travellers between Brisbane and Ipswich. The hotel soon gained a reputation as a venue where drinking and dancing occurred well into the morning hours. The hotel was moved several times due to flooding which was not a deterrent to the licensee. By 1892 a brick hotel has been built on the corner of Oxley Road and Ipswich Road, the site of a public bar still open today. By the late 1860s the area had grown sufficiently to support a hotel, racecourse, post office and churches. A bark non-denominational church was built on the corner of Oxley Road and Bannerman Street (previously known as William Street and School Street). In 1891, an additional weatherboard building was erected as part of the church. It was used for Anglican and Presbyterian