Warwick, Queensland
Warwick is a town and locality in southeast Queensland, lying 130 kilometres south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Region local government area; the surrounding Darling Downs have fostered a strong agricultural industry for which Warwick, together with the larger city of Toowoomba, serve as convenient service centres. The town had an urban population of 15,130 as at the 2016 Census; the Condamine River meanders from the east to the north-west of Warwick. One of its tributaries, Rosenthal Creek, enters Warwick from the south and enters the Condamine within Warwick; the Cunningham Highway and the New England Highway jointly enter Warwick from the north, cross the Condamine River, turn west within the town close to the Warwick central business district. The Cunningham Highway continues west towards Goondiwindi, while the New England Highway heads south towards Stanthorpe; the Condamine River floods, which can disconnect the northern and southern parts of Warwick and close the highways.
Gauges that measure river height are used to provide flood alerts to residents. Low-lying land around the river is used for recreation to minimise the damage caused by flooding with most developed areas at higher levels. Queens Park is a major park based around the highway crossing; the Warwick central business district is laid out on a grid pattern and lies within one or two blocks of the long main street, Palmerin Street with Grafton Street the major cross-street. The statue of former Queensland Premier Thomas Byrnes is located at their intersection; the Warwick Green Belt, on the banks of the Condamine River, features a sculpture of Tiddalik the mythical frog that drank all of the fresh water in a renowned Aboriginal Dreamtime story. Patrick Leslie and his two brothers settled in the area as squatters, naming their run Canning Downs. In 1847 the NSW government asked Leslie to select a site on his station for a township, to be called'Cannington,' although the name'Warwick' was settled on. Land sales were held in 1850, the first allotment was bought by Leslie.
Warwick East State School opened on 4 November 1850. It is one of the oldest state primary schools in Queensland; the telegraph to Brisbane was operating by 1861. Warwick Central State School opened on 26 July 1865. Miss O'Mara opened a school on 27 January 1867 in the Oddfellows Hall; the 1870s were boom years for this new town. In 1871 the railway reached Warwick, a brewery was built in 1873 a cooperative flour mill and brickworks were completed during 1874. On 29 October 1874, the Sisters of Mercy took over Miss O'Mara's school at the Oddfellows Hall renaming it St Mary's School. Warwick was the seat of a series of local government areas, the Borough of Warwick from 1861, Town of Warwick from 1903, City of Warwick from 1936, Shire of Warwick from 1994, Southern Downs Region from 2008. In 1878 the Queensland Government raised a loan of £5,000 to build a new hospital in Warwick. However, it was not until September 1880 after considerable local agitation that the government called for tenders to build the hospital, resulting in a contract awarded to A.
W. Doorey to build the hospital. However, by February 1881, tenders were being called for again, in April 1881 the Queensland Government announced the hospital would not proceed. In June 1881, the government indicated that they would proceed if the local financial subscriptions to the hospital were increased. Tenders were called again in February 1882 resulting in a contract with Messrs Wallace and Gibson in March 1882. On Thursday 19 June 1884, the patients were moved from the old hospital to the new hospital in Locke Street. In 1893, the Sisters of Mercy relocated their convent and St Mary's School to the newly-constructed Our Lady of the Assumption Convent in Locke Street; the T J Byrnes Monument was built on the corner of Grafton Streets. The monument was built from 1901 to 1902 and was unveiled on Saturday 13 December 1902 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Herbert Chermside; the unveiling of the monument was an important occasion for Warwick. Warwick State High School opened on 1 February 1912.
It is one of the oldest state secondary schools in Queensland. St Mary's School expanded, creating a secondary school called Assumption College in 1912, in 1914 enlarging the convent to accommodate the growing secondary school. In 1917 the Presbyterian Girls College opened in an existing house “Glenbrae”on over five acres in Locke Street, as a boarding and day school with 53 girls under headmistress Miss Constance Mackness; the school was established by local families who did not want to have to send their daughters to Toowoomba for a Presbyterian education. On 29 November 1917, the Warwick Incident occurred, which would lead to the formation of the Australian Commonwealth Police with the first commissioner for Commonwealth Police appointed eight days later; as Prime Minister William Morris Hughes was addressing a crowd at the Warwick railway station, a man in the crowd threw an egg dislodging the Prime Minister's hat. Hughes ordered his arrest but the Queensland State policeman present refused to carry out the orders saying that Hughes had no authority over him.
In 1918, to meet the need for Presbyterian education for boys, The Scots College opened as a Presbyterian boarding and day for boys in an existing house "Arranmore" on the banks of the Condamine River under headmaster James Logan Briggs. The Warwick War Memorial was built in 1923 and the memorial gates were built in 1924. Although the Queensland Government had architectural plans for a Baby Clinic in Warwick from at least 1923, it was not
East Toowoomba, Queensland
East Toowoomba is a locality in the Toowoomba Region, Australia. At the 2016 Australian Census East Toowoomba recorded a population of 5,244. East Toowomba is 2 kilometres from the Toowoomba central business district; the east and south of the suburb is crossed by the Warrego Highway. According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 5,244 people in East Toowoomba. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.7% of the population. 80.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 2.6%. 86.6% of people spoke only English at home.. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 25.7%, Catholic 23.6% and Anglican 18.9%. The suburb contains the main Bridge Street campus of Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE, two elite independent schools, Toowoomba Grammar School and Fairholme College. In addition, the suburb contains Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School, Toowoomba East State School and Mater Dei Primary School. Toowoomba East State School is Toowoomba's largest primary school with 950 students attending.
Clive Berghofer Stadium known as Athletic Oval and named for former Toowoomba mayor Clive Berghofer, used for rugby league games. It is the home ground for South West Queensland Thunder FC who compete in the National Premier Leagues Queensland. Queens Park is the hub of Carnival of the Flowers, including the Food & Wine festival, a Sideshow Alley and the finishing point for the Carnival Parade. Cobb & Co Museum, located on Lindsay Street in between Toowoomba TAFE and Queens Park. There are a number of heritage-listed sites in East Toowoomba, including: Corner of Arthur and Mary Streets: Toowoomba East State School80 Campbell Street: Whyembah 4-6 Fernside Street: Fernside 43-79 Lindsay Street: Queens Park 24-60 Margaret Street: Toowoomba Grammar School 73 Margaret Street: Bishop's House 90 Margaret Street: Old Toowoomba Court House 124 Margaret Street: Toowoomba Technical College 112 Mary Street: Gowrie House 9 Phillip Street: Millbrook 9-13 Tourist Road: Unara
Goombungee, Queensland
Goombungee is a small town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Australia. At the 2011 census, Goombungee had a population of 1,032, it is 35 km north-west of Toowoomba in the Darling Downs. The town boasts a unique ironman at the southern entrance to the town, reminiscent of the Rural Ironman and Ironwoman competition, once held annually on Australia Day. There is a historic museum, an art gallery, a primary school and a police station; the first meeting of the former local government area of Shire of Rosalie was held on 17 February 1879. The town is now part of the Toowoomba Region local government area. Goombungee Post Office opened by 1895. In 2003, the town was connected to a mains water supply; the Goombungee Library opened in 2005. Goombungee has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Hartwig Street: Goombungee War Memorial, unveiled by Sir T W Glasgow in December 1920; the Goombungee Library is operated by the Toowoomba Regional Council. The library is open three days a week; the Goombungee branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the CWA Rest Rooms at 56 Mocatta Street.
Goombungee has won four Queensland Tidy Towns awards, in 1975/76, 1976/77, 1980/81 and 1981/82. Each November, Goombungee hosts a Jacaranda Day festival in the main street, celebrating the history of the town and the blooming jacarandas and silky oaks; the annual Goombungee-Haden Show is held each autumn at the picturesque showgrounds in the town. The Goombungee Rodeo is held there on the first Saturday in November. University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Goombungee
Cranley, Queensland
Cranley is a suburb of Toowoomba in the Toowoomba Region, Australia. In the 2011 census, Cranley had a population of 852 people. Cranley is located 6 kilometres north-west from the Toowoomba central business district, its northern and eastern boundary follow Gowrie Creek. Its western boundary is Boundary Road. Most of the land is small farms and low-density rural residential. Exceptions to this are in the southern part of the locality and include the Baillie Henderson Hospital, which provides mental health services in the Darling Downs region, a waste water treatment plant, the Palm Lake Resort retirement village. A railway station on the Southern railway line from Toowoomba to Warwick was established in the 1870s and named after James Cranley, a landholder and farmer in the district. James Cranley was a Toowoomba municipal councillor from 1864 to 1866, he was born in County Tipperary, Ireland around 1811 and died in Toowoomba on 3 July 1890. He immigrated to Moreton Bay with his family on the John Fielden in June 1853 and spent several years working at Corranga and Jimbour Station on the Darling Downs before settling in Toowoomba district around 1857.
From 2015, construction began on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. An interchange is being built at the end of Mort Street to provide a new northern entry into central Toowoomba. Due to traffic being diverted from the inner city, it is that businesses will open around Cranley to accommodate for traffic using the bypass. In the 2006 census, Cranley had a population of 724 people. Heritage-listed sites in Cranley include: 1 Hogg Street, Cranley: Baillie Henderson Hospital "Cranley". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland
Division of Groom
The Division of Groom is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1984 as a reconfigured version of the old Division of Darling Downs, it is named in honour of Sir Littleton Groom, who represented Darling Downs with only one short break from 1901 to 1936 and served as Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives. It is located in the rural areas west of Brisbane and is centred on the city of Toowoomba, Australia's second largest inland city. Other centres include Pittsworth; the seat has never elected a Labor member in either of its incarnations. While Toowoomba itself votes for Labor, it is nowhere near enough to overcome the conservative bent of the rural areas. Division of Groom — Australian Electoral Commission
Darling Downs
The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are one of the major regions of Queensland; the name was 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 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 Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling; the region has developed a strong and diverse agricultural industry due to the extensive areas of vertosols black vertosols, of moderate to high fertility and available water capacity. Manufacturing and mining coal mining are important, coal seam gas extraction experienced significant growth in the decade to 2016; the landscape is dominated by rolling hills covered by pastures of many different species, legumes such as soy beans and chick peas, other crops including cotton, wheat and sorghum.
Between the farmlands there are long stretches of crisscrossing roads, bushy ridges, winding creeks and herds of cattle. There are farms with beef and dairy cattle, pigs and lamb stock. Other typical sights include irrigation systems, windmills serving as water well pumps to get water from the Great Artesian Basin, light planes crop-dusting, rusty old woolsheds and other scattered remnants from a bygone era of early exploration and settlement; the largest city and commercial centre of the Darling Downs is Toowoomba about 132 km west of Brisbane. Other towns situated on what is now called The Downs include Dalby, Stanthorpe, Goondiwindi, Miles, Allora, Cecil Plains, Millmerran and Chinchilla; the New England Highway, Gore Highway and the Warrego Highway traverse the region. The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing is being constructed so that heavy traffic can avoid passing through Toowoomba. Coolmunda Dam, Leslie Dam, Cooby Dam, Perseverance Dam, Cressbrook Dam, Storm King Dam and the Glenlyon Dam are some of the major water storage facilities in the area.
West of Toowoomba is the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport. The Darling Down is situated in the drainage basins of the Condamine River and Maranoa River and tributaries; the Condamine River flood plain is noted for its good soils formed by basaltic alluvium. On the northern boundaries of the Downs are the Bunya Mountains and the Bunya Mountains National Park; the region to the north is the South Burnett and the Maranoa lies to the west. A section of the western downs lies over coal deposits of the Surat Basin. Towards the coast, the mountains of the Scenic Rim form the headwaters of the westward flowing Condamine; the majority of the Darling Downs has a humid subtropical climate although some areas experience a semi-arid or subtropical highland climate. Summer maximum temperatures range from 28 °C to 34 °C, while winter maximums range from 13 °C to 19 °C; the annual rainfall ranges to 1,000 mm in the east. In the south-east of the Darling Downs winter temperatures can drop below −5 °C with heavy frost and occasional snow, while in the north-west summer temperatures can surpass 45 °C.
Severe thunderstorms and damaging floods are a threat at times. Part of the Darling Downs, which includes the towns of Allora, Warwick and the rocky district in the south known as the Granite Belt, is known as the Southern Downs; the phrase is used to define political boundaries and in the promotion of tourism in the area. The Dumaresq and the MacIntyre are found in this part of the region.. The Darling Downs was covered with a wealth of indigenous grasses which created an ideal verdure for stock eight months of the year; the Darling Downs Aborigines had an annual burning season at the time when the indigenous grasses were ripe and dry. The annual fires gave the local Aborigines of the Darling Downs the name "Goonneeburra" or "Fire Blacks" - "goonnee" being a name for fire and "burra" a generic word for the whole race; this is what the Downs tribes were known as to the coastal Aborigines who inhabited the Moreton Bay area. Murri is a wider-spread generic word meaning the whole race but in the Kamabroi dialect.
The Downs tribes spoke one common dialect, called Waccah and so to all other surrounding tribes were known as the Wacca-burra. The Goonnee-burra were once situated. Goonnee meant "the ones who hunt with fire". Allan Cunningham set out to explore the area to the west of Moreton Bay in 1827, crossing to the west of the Great Dividing Range from the Hunter Region and travelling north. In June 1827, Cunningham climbed to the top of Mount Dumaresque and after wrote in his diary that this lush area was ideal for settlement. Exploring around Mount Dumaresque, Cunningham found a pass, now known as Cunninghams Gap. Cunningham returned to Moreton Bay in 1828 and with Charles Fraser charted the route through the pass to the Darling Downs. Ludwig Leichhardt in 1844 saw the remains of a camp showing the signs of white men through ridge poles and steel axes. News of the lush pastures spread resulting in a land grab that authorities in the distant New South Wales colony found difficult to stop. Patrick Leslie was the first person to s
