Crows Nest 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 subdivi ...

in the

Toowoomba Region The Toowoomba Region is a local government area located in the Darling Downs part of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the early 1900s and bey ...

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 , established_ ...

, Australia. The town is located in the

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 to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

on the

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland at its northern end to Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales at its southern end. It is part of Australia's National Highway system, ...

, from the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and from the nearby city 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 ...

. In the , Crows Nest had a population of 2160 people.

History

Jarowair (also known as Yarowair, Yarow-wair, Barrunggam, Yarrowair, Yarowwair and Yarrow-weir) is one of the languages of the

region. The Jarowair language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Toowoomba Regional Council The Toowoomba Region is a local government area located in the Darling Downs part of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the early 1900s and bey ...

, particularly

north to Crows Nest and west to

Oakey Oakey is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. The Museum of Army Aviation is located at Oakey Airport. Geography The town is situated on the eastern side of the Darling Downs and the Toowoomba Region lo ...

. Giabal is the Southern neighbour in Toowoomba City. Crows Nest, established on Dalla tribal lands, was declared a town in 1876. Crows Nest Post Office opened on 1 July 1878. A branch railway line from Toowoomba, which serviced a number of sawmills and a dairying district, was finished in 1886. In December 1880, the Primitive Methodist Church purchased of land for a church. The church opened on Easter Sunday on 17 April 1881. On Sunday 31 December 1905, a new Crows Nest Methodist Church was officially opened by Reverend Henry Youngman, replacing the 1880 church. The 1906 church was with two classrooms at the rear, each . The land cost £160 and the building £360, a total of £520. In 1956, the church was remodelled. After the Methodist Church amalgamated into the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, it became the Crows Nest District Uniting Church. Jim Crow statue Crows Nest Centenary Park

Jim Crow statue Crows Nest Centenary Park

It is claimed by some that the town was named after an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

man, Jimmy Crow, who gave directions to early European settlers. He lived in a big hollow tree near the police station, which became known as ''Crows Nest''. It became a popular overnight camp for the bullock teams hauling timber, which in turn attracted farmers and settlers. A 6-foot 6-inch high statue of Jimmy Crow was unveiled in the Centenary Park at Crows Nest on 12 July 1969 by Minister for Labour and Tourism, John Herbert. The statue was sculpted by

Fred Gardiner Frederick Goldwin Gardiner, (January 21, 1895 – August 21, 1983) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman. He was the first chairman of Metropolitan Toronto council, the governing body for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, f ...

of the Tia Art Gallery. The statue was cut from a single block of

Helidon freestone Helidon () may refer to: * Helidon, Queensland, town in Lockyer Valley, Queensland, Australia ** Helidon railway station, serving the town of Helidon on the Main line in Queensland, Australia * , a music label in Ljubljana, Slovenia *Helidon Gjergj ...

and weighs over one ton. An 18-foot high hollow tree stump was also moved to Centenary Park and a fig tree was planted on top so the roots could be trained around it to form a living hollow tree. It is believed to be the only memorial in Australia to an Aboriginal person after whom a town was named. However, it is also claimed that the name derives from the indigenous name for the area ''Tookoogandanna'', meaning "the home of crows". Some researchers acknowledge there are many possible origins of the name. Jim Crow Statue information

In 1913, the

Shire of Crows Nest The Shire of Crows Nest was a local government area in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, immediately northeast of the regional city of Toowoomba. The shire, administered from the town of Crows Nest, covered an area of , and ex ...

was formed with the town becoming the administrative centre for the new local government area. The shire expanded in 1949 and was merged into the Toowoomba Region local government area in 2008. In the 1950s and 60s the town's population declined, together with the local industries. On Saturday 7 April 1951 Archbishop

Reginald Halse Sir Reginald Charles Halse KBE CMG (16 June 1881 – 9 August 1962) was the Bishop of Riverina from 1925 to 1943 and then Archbishop of Brisbane until his death in 1962. Halse was educated at St Paul's School, London and Brasenose College, Ox ...

dedicated a new Anglican church in Crows Nest, built from concrete blocks. In 2019 the Anglican parish of Crows Nest entered in a partnership with St David's Anglican Church in Chelmer,

, to share their ministry through a combination of services at the various churches combined with online services from St David's. It is an experiment in how the Anglican Church may operate in the future. In the , the locality of Crows Nest had a population of 2160 people.

Heritage listings

Crows Nest 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 i ...

sites, including: * 19 Curnow Street: Crows Nest Post Office

Amenities

Town facilities include a large pavilion for sports activities and other functions, showgrounds and a 25 m heated swimming pool. east of the town is the Crows Nest National Park. The John French V.C. Memorial Library is open Monday to Saturday; the name commemorating Jack French, a local man who was killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for his valour in the face of the enemy. The library is located on the corner of William Street and the New England Highway and is operated by the

. The current library facility opened in 1996 with a major refurbishment in 2014. Crows Nest Regional Art Gallery is located in the same building as the Crows Nest Library, and is also used to showcase local talent. The Crows Nest branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at 7 Thallon Street (). St George's Anglican Church is at 13 Thallon Street (). St Matthew's Catholic Church is at 20 Creek Street (). Crows Nest District Uniting Church is at 17-19 Emu Creek Road ().

Education

Crow's Nest State School is a government primary and secondary (Prep-10) school for boys and girls at 1 Littleton Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 323 students with 32 teachers (28 full-time equivalent) and 20 non-teaching staff (13 full-time equivalent). It includes a

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

program.

Notable residents

* Jack French, recipient of the

References

External links

Crows Nest: Queensland PlacesCrows Nest Pioneer wallThe Crow Call community newsgroup
{{Authority control Towns in Queensland Towns in the Darling Downs Populated places established in 1876 1876 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland