[7][8] The terrain ranges from 0 to 30 metres (0 to 98 ft) above sea level with the lower land along the eastern coast and along the creek to the south.

[citation needed] This part of Moreton Bay was originally occupied by the semi-nomadic Mipirimm subclan of the Quandamooka people.

Lota and neighbouring suburb Manly were and continue to be known as Narlung to the Quandamooka people,[11] likely meaning 'the place of long shadows'.

[citation needed] Lota was acquired by Irish-born politician and pastoralist William Duckett White in 1860, following sub-division of the lands from Lytton to Fig Tree Point.

[14][15] Lota House was the heart of a productive estate, with sugar cane and fodder grown on the flats near the creek and orchards planted on higher ground near Macdonald Street.

[16] Aboriginal and South Sea Islander people worked the property, camping to the west of Lota House.

[23] However, the death Mrs Elizabeth Annie Farmer of Macdonald Street, Lota, on 16 June 1930 resulted in a bequest of £300 to the church.

[27][28][29] The Rix-Farmer Memorial Presbyterian Church was officially opened on Saturday 24 October 1931 by Miss Annie Leighton Young, a niece of Mrs Alice Rix.

[37][38] Lota School of Arts opened on the corner of Alexander and MacDonald Streets in 1927, and played host to dance evenings, film screenings and classes.

[40] In 1954, the Bayside United Sports and Recreation Club opened at Cox Park to provide opportunities for local children to play soccer, badminton, table tennis, basketball and fencing.

[45] They closed in 2013, being replaced in 2015 by the Wynnum-Manly Gundu-Pa Community Health Centre in Wynnum West with adjacent ambulance station.

74.3% of people living in Lota were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7%; the next most common countries of birth were England 7.3%, New Zealand 6.0%, South Africa 1.7%, Scotland 1.3%, Ireland 0.7%.

[citation needed] There are a number of parks in the area: Lota railway station provides access to regular Queensland Rail City network services to Brisbane and Cleveland.

[citation needed] At the local level, Lota is in the Wynnum-Manly ward of the Brisbane City Council, represented by Cr Sara Whitmee.

At the state level, Lota is within the Lytton electorate, a traditionally safe Labor seat, held by Joan Pease.