Cunningham is a rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Southern Downs Region The Southern Downs Region is a local government area (LGA) in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. The region runs along the state's southern boundary with New South Wales and was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of War ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Cunningham had a population of 58 people.

Geography

The

Condamine River The Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment that is part of the Murray-Darling Basin, drains the northern portion of the Darling Downs, an area of sub-coastal southern Queensland, Australia. The river is approximately 500 kilometres (3 ...

forms the north-eastern boundary of the locality. The

Cunningham Highway The Cunningham Highway is a National Highway (Australia), national highway located in South East Queensland, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. The highway links the Darling Downs region with the urbanised outskirts of Ipswich, Queensland, I ...

enters the locality from the east ( Wheatvale) and forms part of the southern boundary, before exiting to the south-west ( Greymare / Montrose). The South Western railway line passes through the locality from the north-east (Wheatvale) and exits to the south-west (Montrose) with the locality served by the Cunningham railway station in the north-east of the locality (). There is a small urban centre on the Leyburn-Cunningham Road which features the

Country Women's Association The Country Women's Association (CWA) is a women's organisation in Australia, which seeks to advance interests of women, families, and communities in Australia, especially those in rural, regional, and remote areas. It comprises seven indep ...

Memorial Hall at Cunningham Road, a memorial park and the railway station. The land use is predominantly

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation in the south of the locality with crop growing and horticulture in the north of the locality along the Condamine River.

History

The locality is named after explorer and botanist Allan Cunningham who was the first European to see the lush pastures of 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 ...

in 1827.

Demographics

In the , Cunningham had a population of 66 people. In the , Cunningham had a population of 58 people.

Education

There are no schools in Cunningham. The nearest government primary school is Wheatvale State School in neighbouring Wheatvale to the east. The nearest government secondary school is

Warwick State High School Warwick State High School is a heritage-listed state high school at 15 Palmerin Street, Warwick, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Pye and Block A was built from 1914 to 1915. It is also known as Warwick Te ...

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

to the east.

Amenities

The memorial park has a picnic table as well as three memorials to (left to right): *

Patrick Leslie Patrick Leslie (25 September 1815 – 12 August 1881) was a Scottish settler in Australia. Leslie and his two brothers (Walter and George) were the first to settle on the Darling Downs, and he was the first person to buy land in Warwick. ...

, the first settler on the Darling Downs who founded Toolburra Station north of the park * the local servicemen who died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* the pioneer families of the district: Clancy, Mullins, McMahon and Cantwell The memorial cairn to Patrick Leslie was erected by the Rosenthal Shire Council and unveiled on 10 December 1959 by the Shire Chairman, J. A. Costello. The Cunningham 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 the QCWA Hall on Cunningham Road.

References

External links

{{Southern Downs Region Southern Downs Region Localities in Queensland