Kurwongbah is a rural/residential suburb in the former Pine Rivers Shire, 29 km north of central Brisbane. It was named after Lake Kurwongbah, the lesser of two water storages constructed for Pine Rivers during the 1960s and 1970s. Lake Kurwongbah supplied the Amcor paper mill in Petrie, as well as supplementing residential consumption. 'Kurwongbah' is thought to be an Aboriginal word for Sideling Creek, the lake's main water source.

While still a rural area, Kurwongbah was the site for the Lakeside Motor Racing Circuit (1961), built to replace a circuit at Strathpine. It hosted the Australian Grand Prix in 1966. Management of the circuit went into receivership in 2001 and the site was acquired by the Shire Council for local motor racing. The Pine Rivers Golf Club (1973) is east of the Lakeside Circuit, and the Dakabin railway station is east of the golf course.

West of Lake Kurwongbah there are the Murrenbong Scout Campsite (1953) and two quarries that have supplied building materials for much of Pine Rivers' urban growth since the 1970s. The North Pine pumping station (1957), built for the Amcor factory, is at the south end of Lake Kurwongbah. It is listed on the Queensland heritage register as an example of postwar industrialisation. A short way east in Dayboro Road there is a reserve with the Old Petrie Town historical village. It includes the heritage-listed North Pine Presbyterian Church (1884) from Old Dayboro Road and the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum.

Kurwongbah's census populations have been:

census datepopulation
20061334
20111420
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