History
[edit]
Main article: History of Toowoomba, Queensland
Traditional inhabitants of the land[edit]
Giabal and Jarowair are recognised as the two main Aboriginal language groups of the Toowoomba with Giabal extending south of the city while Jarowair extends north of the city. The Jarowair (also known as Yarowair, Yarow-wair, Barrunggam, Yarrowair, Yarowwair and Yarrow-weir) language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Toowoomba Regional Council, particularly Toowoomba north to Crows Nest and west to Oakey.
This traditional landscape changed dramatically from 1840 with the incursion of British pastoralists into the region. Those Aboriginal Australians that survived the frontier conflict of this time were pushed to the fringe of society in camps and later moved to missions such as Deebing Creek, Durundur and later Barambah (now Cherbourg). Some local Aboriginal Australians worked on the properties around Toowoomba in this contact period. Ceremonies such as the Bonye Bonye festival remained active until the late 19th century – groups from south east and south west Queensland as well as northern New South Wales gathered at Gummingurru, near Gowrie (west of Toowoomba) prior to attending the festival. The Gummingurru site with its ancient stone circles is being restored by the Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation and is an important ceremonial place for not only the traditional groups but neighbouring groups.
British exploration[edit]
Toowoomba's colonial history traces back to when English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham arrived in Australia from Brazil. He conducted an inland expedition north from the New England region and in June 1827 encountered 4 million acres (16,000 km2) of rich farming and grazing land, which he named as the Darling Downs, bordered on the east by the Great Dividing Range and 160 kilometres (100 mi) west of the settlement of Moreton Bay.
British colonisation[edit]
In 1840, Patrick Leslie (second son of the ninth Laird of Warthill) and Peter Murphy established Toolburra Station 56 miles (90 km) south-west of Toowoomba, being the first British pastoralists to take land on the Downs. Later that same year, Eton College graduate, Arthur Hodgson, together with Gilbert Elliot and Cocky Rogers established "Eton Vale" on land which included "The Swamp", now known as Toowoomba.
In forming Eton Vale, Hodgson's brother Christopher Pemberton Hodgson, later described the "constant skirmishes with the natives" to wrest control of the area off the local Aboriginal people. He wrote that hundreds of Aborigines were killed in a bitter war that lasted three years from the time they arrived in the area. The interior of Eton Vale homestead was decorated with spears and boomerangs and other spoil which the Hodgsons had collected after hard fought battles with "the blacks". Hodgson wrote "who would not rather put a ball in their hearts to rid themselves of their ceremonials and presence at once?"
The general mode of attack by the colonists would involve an early morning raid on the Aboriginal camps. The Hodgsons would "generally employ our [black] boys from distant tribes to act as trackers" to locate defiant groups of Aboriginal people. Sometimes a prisoner was taken and "ordered to conduct us to his own camp on risk of his life" and once at this camp, "we rushed to attack it and we had, notwithstanding, ample revenge". Hodgson describes how Aborigines would try to recover "the corpses of those who had fallen victims to the white man's gun in defiance of a sentry on the lookout". Those who were at peace with the Hodgson brothers, were kept in line with methods such as the taking of young boys from the tribe as hostages. Hodgson claimed that if the local Aboriginal people were to be considered a species of simia acaudata or tail-less monkey, they had to be "hunted down and exterminated".
Town of Toowoomba[edit]
Royal Bull's Head Inn, the building that contributed to Toowoomba's early development
Towards the end of the 1840s, closer settlement was occurring and the nearby township of Drayton had grown to the point where it had its own newspaper, general store, trading post and the Royal Bull's Head Inn, which was built by William Horton and still stands today. The first Britishers began to live at "The Swamp" (Toowoomba) from 1849, where Josiah Dent, William Shuttleworth and William Gurney were employed to cut reeds and timber for use at Drayton. Dent was said to have "lived in a tent, and with his axe, he killed the blacks".
In 1852, Thomas Alford established the first store at Toowoomba. Land for the town of Toowoomba at "The Swamp" was first surveyed in 1849, then again in 1853. By 1858 Toowoomba was growing fast. It had a population of 700, three hotels and many stores. Land selling at £4 per acre (£10 per hectare) in 1850 was by then £150 per acre (£370 per hectare). Governor Bowen granted the wish of locals and a new municipality was proclaimed on 24 November 1860.[citation needed]
The first town council election took place on 4 January 1861 and William Henry Groom won. The railway from Ipswich was opened in 1867, bringing with it business development. In 1892, the Under Secretary of Public Land proclaimed Toowoomba and the surrounding areas as a township and in 1904 Toowoomba was declared a city. Pastoralism replaced agriculture and dairying by the 1900s.
Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, ca. 1928
In July 1902, 80 subdivided allotments of "The Lilley Estate" owned by the late Sir Charles Lilley, were advertised to be auctioned by Scholefield & Godsall. A map advertising the auction shows that the estate was bordered by Bridge, Mary and Lindsay Streets and overlooking and adjoining the Royal Agricultural Society's Showgrounds.
In 1905, the Royal Agricultural Society and the Drayton and Toowoomba Agricultural and Horticultural Society merged and the Toowoomba Showgrounds on Campbell Street became the sole venue for the annual show.
The Rotary Club of Toowoomba was established in 1930.[citation needed]
During World War II, Toowoomba was the location of RAAF No.7 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).
In 1985, the show left the Toowoomba Showgrounds for the new site in Glenvale.
Toowoomba was named as Australia's Tidiest Town in 2008.
On 10 January 2011, Toowoomba suffered a catastrophic flash flood. Unusually heavy rainfall had occurred in the preceding days, causing the city's waterways to become swollen. Around midday, an intense storm moved in from the northeast, completely overwhelming East Creek and West Creek which run through the CBD. 149.6 mm (5.89 in) fell in one day
with rainfall peaking at 144 mm/h (5.7 in/h) over one 10-minute interval. The flood caused damage to properties and infrastructure, and resulted in the deaths of 2 people in Toowoomba.
At the 2016 census, the Urban Centre of Toowoomba recorded a population of 100,032 people. Of these:
Age distribution: Residents had a similar distribution of ages to the country overall. The median age was 38 years, the same as the national median of 38 years. Children aged under 15 years made up 19.1% of the population (national average is 18.7%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.1% of the population (national average is 10.7%).
Ethnic diversity : 79.1% were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7%; the next most common countries of birth were England 1.9%, New Zealand 1.4%, India 1.2%, Philippines 0.8% and South Africa 0.6%. At home, 84.6% of residents only spoke English; the next most common languages spoken at home were Arabic 0.8%, Mandarin 0.8%, Dinka 0.4%, Tagalog 0.3% and Punjabi 0.3%.
Finances: The median household weekly income was $1,206, compared to the national median of $1,438. This difference is also reflected in real estate, with the median mortgage payment being $1,517 per month, compared to the national median of $1,755.
Housing: The majority (76.3%) of occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 16.1% were semi-detached (row or terrace houses, townhouses etc.), and 6.4% were flats, units or apartments. The average household size was 2.4 people.
Transport: On the day of the Census, 0.8% of employed people travelled to work on public transport, and 77.9% by car (either as driver or as passenger).
