Forest Hill is a rural town and

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

Lockyer Valley Region The Lockyer Valley Region is a local government area in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, between the cities of Ipswich and Toowoomba. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Gatton and the Shire of Lai ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. In the , Forest Hill had a population of 968 people.

Geography

The town is located west of the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and east of the regional centre 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 ...

. Forest Hill railway station is an abandoned railway station on the

Main Line railway The Main Line is a railway line in South East Queensland, Australia. It was opened in a series of sections between 1865 and 1867. It commences at Roma St Station in Brisbane and extends west 161 km to Toowoomba. It is the first narrow gau ...

(). There is an aircraft landing ground between Gatton Laidley Road and the railway line ().

History

In 1880, AJ Boyd purchased 975 acres (394.6 hectares) of land from the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

for reportedly five shillings an acre. The land was located approximately six kilometres south from the

, towards Woodlands. Boyd named this property Forest Hill, after seeing Allan Cunningham's map of the region where he had marked a "forest hill". A stopping place was established on the Main Line railway to service the property called Boyd's Siding which later changed its name to Forest Hill. StateLibQld 2 72203 First World War memorial monument in Forest Hill

StateLibQld 2 72203 First World War memorial monument in Forest Hill

Forest Hill was recorded as a railway station in 1881 and was located one kilometre east down the line from its later location. The railway station moved to its later location in 1886. The first Forest Hill Post Office opened on 1 February 1890 at the railway station (replacing a

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional s ...

named Forest Hill Siding open since 1889). The office moved to its current site at 40 Victoria Street on 7 January 1908. Forest Hill Provisional School opened on 23 January 1893, becoming a state school in 1899. St Thomas's Anglican Church was dedicated on 2 August 1903 by Archdeacon Arthur Evan David. Its closure on 3 May 2005 was approved by Assistant Bishop Rob Nolan. Forest Hill was once home to five hotels, a hospital, a bakery and butcher, and was the largest rail freight hub for agricultural produce in Queensland. The Forest Hill War Memorial was erected to commemorate those in the district who had died or served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was unveiled by five mothers of deceased soldiers on 26 March 1921. During the

2010–11 Queensland floods 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, much of the population of Forest Hill was required to be evacuated by helicopter to nearby Gatton to avoid rapidly rising floodwaters. In the , Forest Hill had a population of 968 people. CC-BY icon

Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Heritage listings

Forest Hill has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 15 Church Street: Forest Hill State School * Gordon Street:

Forest Hill War Memorial Forest Hill War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Gordon Street, Forest Hill, Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland. Australia. It was built in 1921. It is also known as Forest Hill Soldiers Memorial. It was added to the Queensland Heritag ...

* Victoria Street:

Lockyer Hotel Lockyer Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at Victoria Street, Forest Hill, Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1906 to 1970s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. History This two-s ...

* 3 Victoria Street: Queensland National Bank * 38 William Street: Forest Hill Hotel

Education

Forest Hill State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Church Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 137 students with 10 teachers (9 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). There is no secondary school in Forest Hill. The nearest secondary schools are Laidley State High School in Laidley to the south-east and Lockyer District State High School in Gatton to the west.

Amenities

Forest Hill Post Office is at 40 Victoria Street (). It is also a cafe called Cafe 4342 (the postcode for the area) and gift shop. Forest Hill's Fire and Rescue Station is at 4 Williams Street beside the railway line (). Forest Hill's

State Emergency Service The State Emergency Service (SES) is the name used by a number of organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the service deals with floods, storms and tsunamis, but can also assist in oth ...

facilities are at 24 Railway Street beside Furley Park (). St Joseph's Catholic Church is at 8-10 Hunt Street ().

References

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in Queensland Lockyer Valley Region Localities in Queensland