Goomburra is a rural town and

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 , the locality of Goomburra had a population of 256 people. Inverramsay is a neighbourhood in Goomburra ().

Geography

Goomburra is on 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 ...

. It is the valley of Dalrymple Creek which flows from east to west away from the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

towards Allora. The creek eventually becomes a tributary of 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 ...

, part of the Murray-Darling river system. Although there is mountainous terrain within the locality with elevations ranging from above sea level, there is only one named peak, Masters Knob () which rises to above sea level. The town is located in the south-west of the locality, while Inverramsay is a neighbourhood near the south-eastern boundary of the locality around the Inverramsay Homestead. The main route through the locality from south-west (

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and ea ...

) to north-east ( East Haldon) is Goomburra Road, becoming Inverramsay Road, Forestry Reserve Road, and Lookout Road. Goomburra railway station is an abandoned railway station just west of the town. It was the terminus of the closed Goomburra railway line (). The north-east of the locality is within the

Main Range National Park The Main Range is a mountain range and national park in Queensland, Australia, located predominantly in Tregony, Queensland, Tregony, Southern Downs Region, southwest of Brisbane. It is part of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Au ...

. Apart from the protected area, the land use is a mix of crop growing (mostly on the lower elevations near Dalrymple Creek),

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 (mostly on the higher elevations), and some

rural residential A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block, acreage living, or rural residential) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are held simply to bring homeowners closer to n ...

housing.

History

The town's name came from the name of a pastoral run operated by pastoralist

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. ...

from 1840 to 1841. It is an Aboriginal word which is either a corruption of ''gooneburra'' meaning ''fire black tribe'', or which means a ''shield derived from the kurrajong tree''. Goomburra State School opened on 25 April 1881. It closed temporarily in 1905 due to low student numbers. It closed permanently on 14 June 1925. Circa August 1901, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

purchased the Goomburra pastoral run of . This land was divided for closer settlement and sold in April 1902. Goomburra Township Provisional School opened on 10 March 1904. On 1 January 1909, it became Goomburra Township State School. Following a fire which destroyed the school, it was closed on 3 January 1972. It was at 17 Inverramsay Road (). A plaque and signage mark the site. Goomburra Hall opened in July 1906. St John's Anglican Church was dedicated in 1911 by The Venerable Arthur Richard Rivers. Its closure circa 2012 was approved by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Phillip Aspinall Phillip John Aspinall (born 17 December 1959) is an Australian Anglican bishop who served as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane from February 2002 until December 2022, and was also the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia from July 2005 u ...

. It was at 1095 Goomburra Road (). As at March 2024, the church building was still extant. Goomburra was the terminus of the Goomburra railway line which opened in 1912 and closed in 1961. In October 1912, the 1879 Presbyterian church building in Allora was relocated to become the Presbyterian church in Goomburra, which is east of Allora. The relocation of the church required two traction engines and took ten days to negotiate difficult terrain and other problems. Inverramsay State School opened on 2 February 1914 and closed on 22 August 1965. It was at 1194 Inverramsay Road (). On 31 December 1919 in the public hall,

Littleton Groom Sir Littleton Ernest Groom Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG King's Counsel, KC (22 April 18676 November 1936) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers between 1905 and 19 ...

(the member for

) unveiled the town's honour board, listing the 32 names of those who had performed military service 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 ...

including 10 who died in the war.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Goomburra had a population of 259 people. In the , the locality of Goomburra had a population of 256 people.

Education

There are no schools in Goomburra. The nearest government primary schools are Freestone State School in Freestone to the south-west and Allora State School in Allora to the west. The nearest government secondary schools are Allora State School (to Year 10), Clifton State High School (to Year 12) in Clifton to the north-west, and

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 ...

(to Year 12) in

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 south-east. Non-government schools are also available in Allora and Warwick.

Amenities

Goomburra Hall is at 17 Inverramsay Road within the town ().

Attractions

Canopy Goomburra Forest Reserve Main Range National Park

Forestry Reserve Road and Lookout Road provide access to a number of attractions in the Main Range National Park, including: * Mount Castle Lookout () * Sylvesters Lookout () * Araucaria Falls () * walking tracks and camping areas

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Southern Downs Region Localities in Queensland