Toowoomba is a city in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. It is 125 km (78 mi) west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 census was 142,163, having grown at an average annual rate of 1.45% over the previous two decades. Toowoomba is the second-most-populous inland city in the country after the nation's capital of Canberra, and hence the largest city on the Darling Downs. It is the second largest regional centre in Queensland, often referred to as the capital of the Darling Downs. It is also the council seat of the eponymously named Toowoomba Region.
Image: Toowoomba, CBD
Image: Toowoomba City Hall (cropped)
Image: Toowoomba Court House 01
Image: St Patricks Cathedral, Toowoomba
The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally applied to an area approximating to that of the Condamine River catchment upstream of Condamine township but is now applied to a wider region comprising the Southern Downs, Western Downs, Toowoomba and Goondiwindi local authority areas. The name Darling Downs was given in 1827 by Allan Cunningham, the first European explorer to reach the area and recognises the then Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling.
The central business district of the region's largest city, Toowoomba
Aerial view of Bell, 2010
A wide street in the small town of Nobby
Jimbour House, 2011