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Drayton is a rural
locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...
in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Drayton had a population of 1,710 people. Drayton is at the outer southwestern edge of
Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...
. It was first substantial settlement on the Darling Downs, initially being established in 1842. The nearby township of Toowoomba expanded more rapidly than Drayton, and in the 1860s the centre of population shifted to Toowoomba, leaving Drayton as a southwestern suburb.


Geography

The South Western railway line forms the south-western boundary of the locality, which is served by Drayton railway station (). Mount Peel is in the north-west of the locality () rising to . To the west of Drayton, the southern part of ANZAC Avenue forms the axis of a growing industrial and commercial district extending west and north towards Glenvale. Drayton has a core of homes dating to the 19th century and a substantial number of homes and commercial premises dating from the mid years of the 20th century. More recently a large number of detached homes and growing numbers of multi-unit dwellings were built in the 1990s and 2000s, mostly targeted at students from the nearby
University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland (branded as UniSQ and formerly branded as USQ) is a medium-sized, regional university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, with three university campuses at Toowoomba, Springfield and Ipswich. It offe ...
.


History

The Drayton area was known as The Springs from around 1840 to 1847. In August 1842, Thomas Alford established a store at Drayton. He also built his home and established a post office. He is believed to have named the area Drayton after Drayton,
Somersetshire ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...
, England, where his father Charles Alford was the vicar. Drayton continued to be the primary settlement in the region until the town of Toowoomba was established four miles to the north-east, whereupon the centre of population rapidly moved to the newer settlement owing to its better access to water and favourable growing conditions. By 1905, the ''Australian Handbook'' stated that the town "''may now almost be considered a suburb of Toowoomba''". The Drayton National School (later Drayton State School) established on 16 August 1851. It is one of the oldest state primary schools in Queensland. One of the oldest buildings in the Drayton area is the Royal Bull's Head Inn. The town also saw the area's first newspaper, the Darling Downs Gazette, in 1858. From 1887 to 1949, Drayton had its own local government, the
Shire of Drayton The Shire of Drayton was a local government area in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, west of Toowoomba. It existed between 1887 and 1949. History The ''Divisional Boards Act 1879'' created local government areas across Queensla ...
. On Sunday 31 March 1940, 500 people attended a ceremony to place a cairn to mark the site of the first church on the Darling Downs in memory of its founder Canon Glennie. The Anglican church was on the corner of Rudd Street and Cambooya Street (). In the , Drayton had a population of 1,710 people.


Heritage listings

Drayton has a number of
heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
sites, including: * St Matthew's Anglican Church, 45-49 Glennie Street () * Royal Bull's Head Inn, 47-59 Brisbane Street () * Drayton State School, 71-89 Brisbane Street () * O'Shea's Drayton Cottage, 56 Gwynne Street ()


Education

Drayton State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 71-89 Brisbane Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 321 students with 36 teachers (29 full-time equivalent) and 16 non-teaching staff (10 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program.


Facilities

Drayton Police Station is at 35 Brisbane Street ().


Amenities

St Matthew's Anglican Church is at Glennie Street.


Royal Bull's Head Inn

* 1847-48: Inn first built; founded by William Horton, an English convict * 1858: Currently extant brick and plastered timber structure substantially complete * 1879: No longer in use as an inn, became a private home * 1973: Purchased by the National Trust * 1976: Ongoing restoration began The building now serves as a show-case of life in the 1870s. Some rooms have been maintained in their original state.


Notable residents

* Thomas Alford, pioneer of Drayton and Toowoomba * Arthur Hoey Davis, better known as author Steele Rudd, was born in Drayton in 1868. * Reverend
Benjamin Glennie The Reverend Benjamin Glennie (29 January 1812 – 30 April 1900) was a pioneer Anglican clergyman in the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. Early life Benjamin Glennie was born on 29 January 1812 in Dulwich, Surrey, England; his parents were ...
, pioneer
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
clergyman served the Darling Downs for many years and was resident in Drayton from 1850 to 1860 and from 1872 to 1876 *
James Purcell James Purcell may refer to: * James Purcell (actor), American actor and filmmaker * James Purcell (businessman), Australian businessman * James Purcell (mountain man), American mountain man of the 19th century * James Purcell (politician), Aust ...
, an important figure in the Queensland
dairy industry A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...
in the early 20th century, was born in Drayton.


References


Further reading

*


External links


University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Drayton and Drayton ShireNational Trust Queensland - Bulls Head Inn
on Drayton State School's webpage
Drayton State SchoolQueensland Place Histories - Drayton, Queensland
- John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland {{Toowoomba Region Towns in the Darling Downs 1842 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1842 Localities in Queensland