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Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of
South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...
and
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 ...
regions of
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. It is located west of Queensland's capital,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the was 142,163, having grown at an average annual rate of 1.45% over the previous two decades. Toowoomba is the second-most-populous inland city in Australia after the nation's capital,
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
. It is also the second-largest regional centre in Queensland and is often referred to as the capital of the Darling Downs, or the 4th biggest city in South East Queensland after
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, Gold Coast, & the Sunshine Coast. The city serves as the council seat of the Toowoomba Region. Toowoomba, one of Australia's oldest inland cities, was founded in 1849 on the lands of the Giabal and Jarowair people. The city's central streets were named after the history of the
House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a dynasty, royal house of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and later Kingdom of Great Britain, Great ...
. The city became the viceregal summer retreat of Queensland's governors. The city witnessed several significant events during Australia's
Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...
, including the War of Southern Queensland and Battle of One Tree Hill. During the Federation period, Toowoomba emerged as a major artistic and cultural centre with the establishment of the Austral Society. Toowoomba is celebrated for its preserved Victorian-era and traditional Queenslander architecture, historic churches and gardens, and vibrant food, and coffee culture. The city boasts street art, laneways, and numerous nature trails. The city experiences a distinct four seasons and is home to festivals including the Carnival of Flowers. Notable landmarks include
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
and Laurel Bank Park, the Queensland State Rose Garden, the Empire Theatre, St James' Palace, and Mt Meewah.


Etymology

The exact origin of the city's current name is unknown, although it is widely accepted that the name derives from an Aboriginal language. When Toowoomba was first discovered by Europeans, it was named "Drayton Swamp" (in reference to the Toowoomba Swamp) and was often nicknamed "The Swamp". One theory is that after European settlement, the local Aboriginal people referred to it as "Tawampa", which is borrowed from "The Swamp". Another theory is that it derives from the name "Toogoom". This theory was first proposed by author Steele Rudd in a letter to the Toowoomba City Council. He claimed that his father told him that in 1848, he first saw Toowoomba and that he assisted in laying it out the following year. He believed that it derived from the native name "Toogoom" because of the reeds that grew in the area. Rudd also wrote that he remembered that the original Aboriginal name for "The Swamp" was ''Chinkery Yackan'' meaning "water like the stars". Another theory was proposed by the wife of pioneer Toowoomba resident Thomas Alford. She claimed to have asked the Aboriginals what they called the area; they replied with "Woomba Woomba", meaning "the springs and the water underneath". However, she claimed that the Alfords thought this would not be a suitable name for their house and store, so they added the prefix "too-" and omitted one "Woomba" (as this would be a synonym of "two Woomba"), hence "Toowoomba". In 1875, William Henry Groom wrote an account of Toowoomba. He stated that "Toowoomba" derived from the Aboriginal term "great in the future". However, he did not provide a source for his information. Another theory was proposed by
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
Archibald Meston in a book titled ''A Geographical History of Queensland''. He wrote: While this melon still exists and can be found in areas along the Balonne and Warrego Rivers, as well as in areas closer to Toowoomba, there is no evidence that the melon grew near the Toowoomba swamps. A man named Enoggera Charlie proposed another theory in a news story he wrote for the ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
''. He claimed that when he was looking for work as a tar boy, he camped overnight near the Toowoomba Swamp. He claimed that when he asked a
shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...
about the naming of the Toowoomba Swamp, he was told that near the junction of the East and West Swamps, there was a log with an inscription informing swagmen of the way to a well-known homestead where food rations were available. He claimed that the inscription read "To Woombrah". A man named Ardlaw Lawrence put forward his theory shortly after Enoggera Charlie. He suggested that the name was an
Anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
form of "Boowoomga", which comes from the term for "thunder" in the dialect spoken by the Aboriginal tribe inhabiting areas along the Upper Burnett River (including the town of Gayndah). However, it is highly unlikely that this theory is correct, as this dialect was not spoken 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 ...
region (but rather in the Wide Bay-Burnett region) and Lawrence did not state why he transferred the name to the Darling Downs. In fact, the distance between Toowoomba and Gayndah is just over 218 kilometres as the crow flies. In 1899, George Essex Evans published his theory in a pamphlet. He wrote that "Toowoomba" was an Aboriginal word meaning "meeting of the waters", although no evidence was provided to support this claim.


Geography

Toowoomba is on the crest of 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 ...
, around above sea level. A few streets lie on the eastern edge of the range, but the majority of the city is situated west of the divide. The city is situated on the edge of the range and the low ridges behind it. Two valleys extend north from the southern boundary, originating from springs on either side of Middle Ridge near Spring Street, at an altitude of approximately . These waterways, East Creek and West Creek, converge just north of the CBD to form Gowrie Creek. Gowrie Creek drains west across 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 ...
and is 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 basin. The water flowing down Gowrie Creek travels approximately to the mouth of the
Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...
near
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
, South Australia. Rain falling on the easternmost streets of Toowoomba flows east to Moreton Bay, a distance of around . The rich volcanic soil in the region helps maintain the 159 public parks that are scattered across the city.
Jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas while cultivated around the world. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ' ...
, camphor laurel and plane trees line many of the city streets. The city's reputation as 'The Garden City' is highlighted during the Australian Carnival of Flowers festival held in September each year.
Deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
trees from around the world line many of the parks, giving a display of Spring colour.


Suburbs

The City of Toowoomba includes the following suburbs: * Centenary Heights * Cotswold Hills2 * Cranley * Darling Heights * Drayton *
East Toowoomba East Toowoomba is a residential Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in Toowoomba in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , East Toowoomba had a population of 5,953 people. Geography East Toowoomba is by road from the T ...
* Glenvale2 * Harlaxton * Harristown * Kearneys Spring * Middle Ridge * Mount Kynoch * Mount Lofty * Newtown * North Toowoomba * Prince Henry Heights * Rangeville *
Redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...
* Rockville * South Toowoomba * Toowoomba City (the city centre) * Torrington2 * Wilsonton * Wilsonton Heights 2 - from former Shire of Jondaryan


History


Traditional Inhabitants of the land

Giabal and Jarowair are recognised as the two main Aboriginal language groups of the Toowoomba with Giabal extending south of the city while Jarowair extends north of the city. The Jarowair (also known as Yarowair, Yarow-wair, Barrunggam, Yarrowair, Yarowwair and Yarrow-weir) language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Toowoomba Regional Council, particularly Toowoomba north to Crows Nest and west to Oakey. This traditional landscape changed dramatically from 1840 with the incursion of British pastoralists into the region. Those
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
that survived the frontier conflict of this time were pushed to the fringe of society in camps and later moved to missions such as Deebing Creek, Durundur and later Barambah (now
Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...
). Some local Aboriginal Australians worked on the properties around Toowoomba in this contact period. Ceremonies such as the Bonye Bonye festival remained active until the late 19th century – groups from south east and south west Queensland as well as northern
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
gathered at Gummingurru, near Gowrie (west of Toowoomba) prior to attending the festival. The Gummingurru site with its ancient stone circles is being restored by the Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation and is an important ceremonial place for not only the traditional groups but neighbouring groups.


British exploration

Toowoomba's colonial history traces back to when English
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
and explorer Allan Cunningham arrived in Australia from
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. He conducted an inland expedition north from the
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
region and in June 1827 encountered of rich farming and grazing land, which he named as 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 ...
, bordered on the east by 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 ...
and west of the settlement of Moreton Bay.


British colonisation

In 1840, Patrick Leslie (second son of the ninth Laird of Warthill) and Peter Murphy established Toolburra Station south-west of Toowoomba, being the first British pastoralists to take land on the Downs. Later that same year,
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
graduate,
Arthur Hodgson __NOTOC__ Sir Arthur Hodgson KCMG (29 June 1818 – 24 December 1902) was an Australian squatter and politician. Early life Hodgson was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England; the second son of the Rev. Edward Hodgson and his third wi ...
, together with Gilbert Elliot and Cocky Rogers established "Eton Vale" on land which included "The Swamp", now known as Toowoomba. In forming Eton Vale, Hodgson's brother Christopher Pemberton Hodgson, later described the "constant skirmishes with the natives" to wrest control of the area off the local Aboriginal people. He wrote that hundreds of Aborigines were killed in a bitter war that lasted three years from the time they arrived in the area. The interior of Eton Vale homestead was decorated with spears and boomerangs and other spoil which the Hodgsons had collected after hard fought battles with "the blacks". Hodgson wrote "who would not rather put a ball in their hearts to rid themselves of their ceremonials and presence at once?" The general mode of attack by the colonists would involve an early morning raid on the Aboriginal camps. The Hodgsons would "generally employ our lackboys from distant tribes to act as trackers" to locate defiant groups of Aboriginal people. Sometimes a prisoner was taken and "ordered to conduct us to his own camp on risk of his life" and once at this camp, "we rushed to attack it and we had, notwithstanding, ample revenge". Hodgson describes how Aborigines would try to recover "the corpses of those who had fallen victims to the white man's gun in defiance of a sentry on the lookout". Those who were at peace with the Hodgson brothers, were kept in line with methods such as the taking of young boys from the tribe as hostages. Hodgson claimed that if the local Aboriginal people were to be considered a species of ''simia acaudata'' or tail-less monkey, they had to be "hunted down and exterminated".


Town of Toowoomba

Towards the end of the 1840s, closer settlement was occurring and the nearby township of Drayton had grown to the point where it had its own newspaper, general store, trading post and the Royal Bull's Head Inn, which was built by William Horton and still stands today. The first Britishers began to live at "The Swamp" (Toowoomba) from 1849, where Josiah Dent, William Shuttleworth and William Gurney were employed to cut reeds and timber for use at Drayton. Dent was said to have "lived in a tent, and with his axe, he killed the blacks". In 1852, Thomas Alford established the first store at Toowoomba. Land for the town of Toowoomba at "The Swamp" was first surveyed in 1849, then again in 1853.By 1858 Toowoomba was growing fast. It had a population of 700, three hotels and many stores. Land selling at in 1850 was by then . Governor Bowen granted the wish of locals and a new municipality was proclaimed on 24 November 1860. The first town council election took place on 4 January 1861 and William Henry Groom won. The railway from Ipswich was opened in 1867, bringing with it business development. In 1892, the Under Secretary of Public Land proclaimed Toowoomba and the surrounding areas as a township and in 1904 Toowoomba was declared a city. Pastoralism replaced agriculture and dairying by the 1900s. In July 1902, 80 subdivided allotments of "The Lilley Estate" owned by the late Sir Charles Lilley, were advertised to be auctioned by Scholefield & Godsall. A map advertising the auction shows that the estate was bordered by Bridge, Mary and Lindsay Streets and overlooking and adjoining the Royal Agricultural Society's Showgrounds. In 1905, the Royal Agricultural Society and the Drayton and Toowoomba Agricultural and Horticultural Society merged and the Toowoomba Showgrounds on Campbell Street became the sole venue for the annual show. The
Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
of Toowoomba was established in 1930. During
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 ...
, Toowoomba was the location of RAAF No.7 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the
RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...
and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000). In 1985, the show left the Toowoomba Showgrounds for the new site in Glenvale. Toowoomba was named as Australia's Tidiest Town in 2008. On 10 January 2011, Toowoomba suffered a catastrophic
flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
. Unusually heavy rainfall had occurred in the preceding days, causing the city's waterways to become swollen. Around midday, an intense storm moved in from the northeast, completely overwhelming East Creek and West Creek which run through the CBD. fell in one day with rainfall peaking at over one 10-minute interval. The flood caused damage to properties and infrastructure, and resulted in the deaths of 2 people in Toowoomba. At the , the Urban Centre of Toowoomba recorded a population of 100,032 people. Of these: * Age distribution: Residents had a similar distribution of ages to the country overall. The median age was 38 years, the same as the national median of 38 years. Children aged under 15 years made up 19.1% of the population (national average is 18.7%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.1% of the population (national average is 10.7%). * Ethnic diversity : 79.1% were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7%; the next most common countries of birth were England 1.9%, New Zealand 1.4%, India 1.2%, Philippines 0.8% and South Africa 0.6%. At home, 84.6% of residents only spoke English; the next most common languages spoken at home were Arabic 0.8%, Mandarin 0.8%, Dinka 0.4%, Tagalog 0.3% and Punjabi 0.3%. * Finances: The median household weekly income was $1,206, compared to the national median of $1,438. This difference is also reflected in real estate, with the median mortgage payment being $1,517 per month, compared to the national median of $1,755. * Housing: The majority (76.3%) of occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 16.1% were semi-detached (row or terrace houses, townhouses etc.), and 6.4% were flats, units or apartments. The average household size was 2.4 people. * Transport: On the day of the Census, 0.8% of employed people travelled to work on public transport, and 77.9% by car (either as driver or as passenger).


Climate

Toowoomba has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: ''Cfa'') or otherwise known as a warm temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters. The city's inland location as well as elevation and exposed location on the Great Dividing Range influence its climate in several notable ways: Toowoomba experiences more frequent high winds, hail, fog, low maximum temperatures and is even known to have the odd snowfall. As a result, the city has a reputation for being cooler than many other towns and cities in Queensland. Toowoomba is generally sunny, receiving 103.9 clear days annually on average, mostly in winter. Daily maximum temperatures in Toowoomba average in summer and in winter. Unlike most of inland Queensland, summer temperatures above are uncommon, whilst winter days rarely above . Winter nights seldom drop below ; however, in a situation somewhat unique among Queensland cities,
snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
has been reported on the higher parts of the city on several occasions; this is a trait it shares with the Granite Belt to the south along the Great Dividing Range. Light
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
will be experienced several nights each winter in the city centre, more often in the western suburbs. According to the
Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...
, the highest temperature ever recorded in Toowoomba was on 12 February 2017, while the lowest was on 12 July 1965. Average annual rainfall is , which peaks in the warm season. Rainfall in the eastern suburbs along the Great Dividing Range nudges per year. The majority of Toowoomba's rain falls from November to March, with January and February being the peak rainy months. Like most of south-east Queensland, severe
thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...
s can be a threat and Toowoomba may occasionally be affected by ex-tropical
cyclones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...
.


Architecture and heritage

Toowoomba's history has been preserved in its buildings. Examples of architecture drawing from the city's wealthy beginnings include Toowoomba City Hall which was Queensland's first purpose-built town hall, the National Trust Royal Bull's Head Inn and many examples in the heritage-listed Russell Street. Immediately to the east of the CBD is the Caledonian Estate, an area of turn-of-the-20th-century housing, ranging from humble workers cottages to large stately homes, in the classic wooden Queenslander style. Toowoomba is also home to the Empire Theatre, which was originally opened in June 1911, as a silent movie house. In February 1933, fire broke out, almost completely destroying the building. However, the Empire was rebuilt and reopened in November 1933. The architectural styling of the new Empire Theatre was
art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
, in keeping with the trend of the 1930s. After years of neglect, the Empire Theatre was extensively renovated in the late 1990s, but retains much of its art deco architecture and decorations, especially the
proscenium A proscenium (, ) is the virtual vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame ...
arch. Able to seat approximately 1,500 people, the Empire Theatre is now the largest regional theatre in Australia. The former Drayton railway station now functions as the DownSteam
heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...
and
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
. Rollingstock includes the only surviving C16 Class, No. 106 "Pride of Toowoomba", Built in 1914 and originally retired in
Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
by 1964. The city also is home to the Cobb & Co Museum, hailing to the famous mail company's beginnings as a small mail run in the 1800s to transport mail and passengers to
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
and beyond. It also houses Australia's largest collection of horse-drawn vehicles. The museum has undergone a A$8 million redevelopment before reopening in September 2010.


Heritage listings

Toowoomba has many heritage-listed sites, with over fifty on the Queensland Heritage Register in addition to listings on other local heritage registers.


Governance

Toowoomba is the seat of the Toowoomba Region
local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
. The city is represented in the
Parliament of Queensland The Parliament of Queensland is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature, legislative body of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists o ...
by three seats: Toowoomba North, Toowoomba South and Condamine. In the Commonwealth Parliament, Toowoomba forms part of the
Division of Groom The Division of Groom is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Groom is an Agriculture in Australia, agricultural electorate located on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland. I ...
, which is held by Garth Hamilton for the
Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...
. The current mayor of the Toowoomba Region is Geoff McDonald, who succeeded Paul Antonio after his retirement in July 2023.


Crime

Toowoomba has had some amounts of crime, but is still on average less than other parts of Queensland. In 2018, the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland described Toowoomba as "one of Queensland's car theft hot spots", noting that there were insurance claims for over 3,000 cars stolen over a three-year period from Harristown alone.


Economy

The
Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
is also present in the local community, with the city providing housing and amenities for many of the personnel based at the Oakey Army Aviation Centre (in Oakey, NW of Toowoomba) and Borneo Barracks at Cabarlah to the city's North. The headquarters of People First Bank (Heritage Bank), which is Australia's largest mutual bank, FK Gardners, Wagners, McNab, Mort and Co Beef and Namoi Cotton are all located in Toowoomba. The city itself acts as the service centre for an economic area that reaches from the Western edge of Ipswich in the East, to Northern New South Wales in the south and the QLD Border to the west.


Education

Toowoomba is a major education centre with a strong presence of boarders from Western Queensland attending Schools such as Toowoomba Grammar, Fairholme College, Downlands College and The Glennie School.


Primary

State * Darling Heights State School * Drayton State School is the oldest school in Toowoomba. * Fairview Heights State School * Gabbinbar State School * Glenvale State School * Harlaxton State School * Harristown State Primary School * Middle Ridge State School * Newtown State School * Rangeville State School * Rockville State School * Toowoomba East State School * Toowoomba North State School * Toowoomba South State School is the oldest school in Toowoomba proper. * Wilsonton State School Private/Religious * Christian Outreach College Toowoomba * Concordia Lutheran College (2 campuses) * Darling Downs Christian School * Downlands College independent Catholic Co-educational Day and Boarding school * Fairholme College * The Glennie School * Grammar Junior * Glenvale Christian School * Holy Name Catholic Primary School * Mater Dei * Our Lady of Lourdes School * Sacred Heart School * St Anthony's Primary School Toowoomba * St Thomas More's School * St Saviours Primary School * Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School * Toowoomba Christian College


Secondary

State * Centenary Heights State High School * Toowoomba Flexi School (annexe of Centenary Heights State High School) * Clifford Park Special School * Harristown State High School * Toowoomba State High School * Wilsonton State High School Private/Religious * Christian Outreach College, Christian co-educational school. * Concordia College * Darling Downs Christian School * Downlands College, independent Catholic Co-educational Day and Boarding school * Fairholme College, a Presbyterian Church of Queensland school. * The Glennie School, Anglican day and boarding school * St Joseph's College * St. Mary's College * St Saviour's, Toowoomba's oldest Catholic school * St Ursula's College, Independent Catholic day and boarding school for girls * Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School * Toowoomba Christian College * Toowoomba Grammar School, independent grammar school (established 1875). * Mary Mackillop Secondary College, forms part of the existing primary campus in Highfields, opened in 2016


Tertiary

*
University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland is a public research university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the sixth largest city in the Australian state of Queensland Founded in 1967 after a successful campaign by the local Darling Down ...
* TAFE Queensland South West (Formerly SQIT) has extensive campuses to the east of the CBD. *
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
has a small centre in Toowoomba. *
Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...
has a small health training facility in Toowoomba.


Culture


Festivals

Toowoomba is nationally renowned for the annual Carnival of Flowers, held each year in September. Many of the city's major parks and gardens are especially prepared for the carnival, including an important home garden competition and parade of flower floats. Buses bring people from around the nation, and a popular way to arrive at the carnival from
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
is on chartered antique steam and diesel trains, which captures the yester-year aspect of travel to Toowoomba with 19th-century wooden carriages. The "Food and Wine Festival", which usually spans 3 days, happens every year during the Carnival of flowers. It provides entertainment, food and drinks and is a well-known spectacle of the Carnival. In 1953 the Carnival of Flowers was the subject of a sponsored film produced by the Queensland Minister for Lands and Irrigation. The ''Carnival of Flowers'' depicts the floral parade, the home gardens competition and the crowning of the Floral Queen and is a wonderful portrait of life in 1950s Queensland. In 2009 as part of the
Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia ...
celebrations, Carnival of Flowers was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as an "Events and festivals". The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers received the Gold Award for Major Festival and Event at the Queensland Tourism Awards in 2015, 2016 & 2017, and Australian Tourism Awards in 2016 & 2017. In 2017, 255,639 people recorded as having attended the event. Toowoomba also hosts 'First Coat Art and Music Festival'. First Coat is a street art festival, held annually in May. As a result of the festival, over 50 pieces of large-scale, public art exist throughout the Toowoomba CBD, which has led to a transformation of previously underutilised lane and alleyways, as well as a reduction in costs associated with graffiti management. Toowoomba was previously home to Easterfest, which was held annually over the Easter weekend but was discontinued after 2015 due to budgetary constraints. In March 2024, the innaugral Toowoomba Fashion Festival was held. It hosted three runways featuring emerging and established designers. The festival is an annual event aimed at reinvigorating the fashion industry in regional Australia.


Food

Toowoomba was home to the Weis Bar, famous for being the birthplace of the Weis brand, until 2021 when the parent company Unilever relocated production to a factory in Western Sydney and the bar was closed down. Toowoomba is also credited as the origin of Home Ice Cream, Homestyle Bake, and possibly the
Lamington A lamington is an Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, ...
. Toowoomba has a thriving cafe and restaurant scene that is often compared to Melbourne in its maturity and depth.


Sport


Rugby league

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
is a popular sport in Toowoomba. A team representing Toowoomba used to compete in the Bulimba Cup tournament. Toowoomba currently does not host a team in any of the major national competitions but was home to the
Toowoomba Clydesdales The Western Clydesdales (formerly Toowoomba Clydesdales) are a rugby league football club based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The Clydesdales originally played in the Queensland Cup from the competition's inception in 1996 until 2006, an ...
in the
Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...
state league. The Clydesdales were the feeder team for
Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
in the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
(NRL) from 1999 to 2006. The Clysedales dropped out of the Queensland Cup after the 2006 season due to financial difficulties and are no longer a feeder club for the Brisbane Broncos. Toowoomba Sports Ground (Clive Berghofer Stadium) has hosted trial
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
(NRL) matches since 2003 and premiership matches have been played since 2018 with an average attendance of 7,559 and a record crowd of 10,000 in 2004.


Association football

Toowoomba features a semi-professional football club, South West Queensland Thunder, that has a large following within the community. Toowoomba is the headquarters of Football Darling Downs which administers football in Toowoomba and surrounding towns and regions. Toowoomba is home to 12 clubs including South West Queensland Thunder, Fairholme College, Garden City Raiders, Highfields, Rockville Rovers, St Albans, South Toowoomba Hawks, St Ursula's College, University of Southern Queensland, West Wanderers and Willowburn. A-League Men pre-season matches have been held at Toowoomba Sports Ground since 2006 with a record crowd of 4,571.


Aussie rules

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
is played by four senior teams in the AFL Darling Downs competition: Coolaroo, Toowoomba Tigers, University of Southern Queensland and South Toowoomba. The sport has gained popularity amongst juniors with eleven clubs in the region. The four Senior Toowoomba clubs compete with five other clubs in towns such as Dalby, Gatton,
Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , the locality of Goondiwindi had a population of 6, ...
, Highfields and Warwick. In 2006, Brad Howard became the first draftee from Toowoomba to the
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
(AFL). Despite the code's popularity, Toowoomba has never hosted an AFL match, even with a capacity upgrade in 2022, the city's premier venue Rockville Park is not currently up to AFL standard.


Other sports

Toowoomba has clubs for other sports including
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
(Toowoomba Cricket Inc),
archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...
, swimming, tennis, softball, baseball,
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
(Toowoomba Netball Association),
hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
(Toowoomba Hockey Association), gridiron (Chargers) and basketball (Toowoomba Basketball Association). The city is also home to the Toowoomba Mountaineers basketball team, which participates in the
Queensland Basketball League NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...
(QBL). Toowoomba also shares two golf courses; Toowoomba Golf Club Middle Ridge, and City Golf Club Toowoomba. These two clubs, as well as several other clubs in the district, conduct an annual Pennant season. Each club take on each other in match play and in several different divisions to be crowned the Pennant winners of the Year. City Golf Club also hosted the Queensland PGA Championship from 2009 to 2013. Toowoomba is home to Clifford Park Racecourse. Clifford Park Racecourse was acquired as a block in 1861. The Toowoomba Turf Club was formed in 1882 and the first recorded Toowoomba Cup was run in 1919. In 1992, the club made Australian racing history by staging the first race ever run under electric lights: the Fosters Toowoomba Cup, which was won by Waigani Drive. In 1996 the club staged the first night race meeting in Australia. Toowoomba has a number of rugby union teams, including University of Southern Queensland Rugby Union Club, Toowoomba Rangers Rugby Union Club, Toowoomba City Rugby Club, which compete in the Darling Downs Rugby Union competition, against such teams as the Roma Echidnas, the Condamine Cods, the Dalby Wheatmen, the Goondiwindi Emus, the Warwick Water Rats and the University of Queensland Rugby Union Club (Gatton Campus). Cycling is a popular sport in Toowoomba. The Tour of Toowoomba in 2010 became a round of the Subaru National Road Series and attracted 15 teams. A proposal to stage a National Road Series event in Toowoomba was first presented to the Toowoomba Cycling Club in late 2009 by John Osborne OAM, a lifelong cycling enthusiast. The inaugural FKG Tour of Toowoomba was won by Patrick Shaw riding for the Virgin Blue RBS Morgan team. Patrick was later named Cycling Australia's Road Cyclist of the Year – 2010. Founded in 1950, the Toowoomba Auto Club ran races at the nearby Leyburn Airfield and Lowood Airfield Circuits in the 1950s and 1960s, and also ran races on the streets of Middle Ridge as part of the Carnival of Flowers in 1958, 1960 and 1961, with the feature races won by Glynn Scott, Alec Mildren and Arnold Glass respectively. The club built the Echo Valley facility, initially as a
hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...
venue officially opened on 18 September 1966, with the facility now operating as a
motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
track. The Australian Hillclimb Championship was held on Prince Henry Drive in 1955 and 1961. From 1923 to 1928 racing for both
motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
and for cars was held at Werrington Park Speedway on a site south of the Toowoomba City Aerodrome. Speedway took place around the old Toowoomba Showgrounds, off Campbell Street from 1955 to 1981. The
motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
track hosted the Queensland Solo Championship in 1955. Toowoomba is home to four
parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...
events: Toowoomba (founded 2013 at Queens Park), Highfields (founded 2015), South Toowoomba (founded 2018) and Picnic Point (founded 2023). Toowoomba's parkrun events are some of the best attended in Australia with as many as 500 participants.


Community groups

The Toowoomba branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at 263 Margaret Street and the Toowoomba City Business Women's branch meets at 161 Margaret Street. There are 6 Rotary clubs operating within Toowoomba. All are active within the community raising funds annually in excess of $200,000. The Rotary Cub of Toowoomba meets at Burke and Wills Hotel, 554 Ruthven Street.


Media


Print

* ''The Darling Downs Gazette'' (June 1858 to October 1922About us
. Toowoomba Chronicle. Toowoomba Newspapers. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
) * ''The Chronicle'' (since July 1861) * ''High Country Herald'' * ''The Coffee Gazette'' (since October 2014) * ''Darling Downs Star'' (July 1955 to September 2003) * ''Toowoomba's Mail'' (since September 2003) * ''Toowoomba Telegraph'' (October 2012 to July 2013)


Television

Toowoomba is serviced by three commercial national network stations and two national non-commercial network stations. These are Seven Queensland, SCA 10 (
Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...
),
WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
(
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
), ABC Television and
Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...
. Each broadcasts television services in digital format, with analogue transmissions having been deactivated on 6 December 2011. * Seven Queensland (STQ), 7two, 7mate,
7Bravo 7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...
, 7flix,
7Bravo 7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...
:
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
owned and operated channels. *
WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
,
9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History The la ...
,
9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...
,
9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...
:
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
affiliated channels. * SCA 10, 10 Bold Drama, 10 Peach Comedy,
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
, Sky News Regional:
Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...
affiliated channels. *
Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...
, SBS, SBS Viceland,
SBS Food SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first ...
, SBS World Movies, SBS WorldWatch and
NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...
*
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
, ABC TV,
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
, ABC Kids,
ABC Entertains ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...
,
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
Of the three commercial networks, Seven Queensland and
WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
both air 30-minute local news bulletins at 6pm each weeknight, produced from newsrooms in the city but broadcast from studios in Maroochydore and
Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
respectively. Southern Cross Nine aired a regional Queensland edition of ''
Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...
'' from Brisbane, featuring local opt-outs for Toowoomba and the Darling Downs from August 2017 to February 2019. Brisbane metropolitan commercial channels BTQ-7 (Seven Network), QTQ-9 (Nine Network) and TVQ-10 (Network Ten) broadcasting from transmission towers at Mount Coot-tha can also be received in some parts of Toowoomba.


Radio

Toowoomba has many different radio stations including FM and AM channels. Below is a list of some stations available in Toowoomba. * Hit 100.7 Darling Downs (100.7 FM) * Triple M Darling Downs 864 (864 AM) * ABC Southern Queensland (747 AM) * 92.9 Voice FM (92.9 FM) * River949 (94.9 FM) * ABC News Radio (96.7 FM) * Power FM (88.0 FM) * Community Radio (101.7 FM) * Triple J (103.3 FM / 104.1 FM) * ABC Local Radio Queensland (104.9 FM) * ABC Classic FM (107.3 FM) * 4WK (963 AM) * 4AK (1242 AM) * The Breeze (1620 AM)


Transport

There is a suburban bus service operated by Bus Queensland Toowoomba throughout the city. This is a Translink service. Stonestreets Coaches operate many school services in the city. There are frequent inter-city bus services between Toowoomba and Brisbane, and other centres operated by Greyhound Australia and Murrays. Toowoomba was the headquarters for McCafferty's that operated a national long-distance coach network until its sale to Greyhound Australia in 2004. Toowoomba station has a twice-weekly return rail service from Brisbane to Charleville on
Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...
's '' The Westlander''. Toowoomba is a centre for several railway lines that are used both for freight and passenger services, and idle railway stations can be found in the suburbs (including Ballard, Drayton, Harlaxton and Harristown), dating to when these localities were separate centres. Toowoomba is served by Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, which is serviced by
QantasLink QantasLink is a full-service, Regional airline, regional brand of Australian flag carrier airline Qantas. As of 2024, QantasLink provides over 2,000 flights each week to 65 metropolitan, regional and remote destinations across Australia, as wel ...
and Rex Airlines, with flights to
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, Sydney,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
, Whitsundays and destinations west of the city. The city's former main airport, Toowoomba City Aerodrome is located in Toowoomba's outer suburb of Wilsonton (). This airport is now primarily used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, LifeFlight and the Darling Downs Aero Club.


Infrastructure


Health

Toowoomba is serviced by four hospitals: Toowoomba Base Hospital, which is a public hospital and one of the largest hospitals in regional Australia, this will soon be replaced via a redevelopment at the Baillie Henderson Hospital site; a specialist psychiatric hospital called Baillie Henderson Hospital; and two private hospitals: St. Andrew's Toowoomba Hospital and St. Vincents Hospital. There is also the Toowoomba Hospice, a community-based private healthcare facility providing
palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...
to the terminally ill.


Water

Toowoomba's third water storage Cressbrook Dam was completed in 1983 and supplied water to Toowoomba in 1988. It has a full capacity of about bringing total capacity of the three dams, Cooby, Perseverance, and Cressbrook, to . The city also has underground supplies in fractured
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
of the rock unit known as the Main Range Volcanics. Toowoomba also sits above the eastern edge of the Great Artesian Basin and to the west underground water is available beneath unconsolidated
alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
. Rainfall during the period from 1998 to 2005 was 30% below the long term average, consistent with a prolonged drought; with this trend continuing through to the spring of 2007. In mid-2005, the water situation for the city was becoming critical with water supply levels below 30%. Environmental flows from Cressbrook Dam into Cressbrook Creek were allowed to cease as Toowoomba approached level five water restrictions. During March 2006 the surface water storage in the dams fell below 25% of full capacity, falling further to 12.8% on 10 March 2008 and reaching an all-time low of 7.7% in December 2009. The former Toowoomba Mayor Di Thorley proposed a controversial potable reuse project under the Toowoomba Water Futures plan which would result in water reclaimed from the Wetalla Sewage Treatment Plant being returned to Cooby Dam to provide 25% of the potable water supply for Toowoomba. Other water supply options include importing water from Oakey Creek Groundwater Management Area (average TDS 1660 mg/L), importing water from Condamine Groundwater Management Area (average TDS 740 mg/L), and water from coal seam gas production (TDS 1200–4300 mg/L). On 29 July 2006, Toowoomba City Council conducted a poll of Toowoomba residents on the proposal to use this multi-barrier filtration system for filtering sewage for drinking purposes. The poll question was: "Do you support the addition of purified recycled water to Toowoomba's water supply via Cooby Dam as proposed by Water Futures – Toowoomba?" 38% of voters supported the proposal and 62% opposed. This meant that despite dams reaching critical levels, the city rejected the use of recycled water in a plebiscite. Since the public rejection in 2006 of adding recycled sewage to the drinking water supply, water conservation measures have included harvesting stormwater for use in public parks and adding filtered groundwater to the town water supply. The city was under level 5 water restrictions as of 26 September 2006. This prohibits residents from using town water on their lawns, gardens or cars, and residents are strongly urged to cut down on water consumption. In 2007, the Toowoomba City Council commenced a bore drilling program to augment the dwindling dam supplies and constructed several subartesian bores across the city and one artesian bore at Wetalla in the city's north. Many of the subartesian bores provided potable water with a reliable yield and have been developed into production however the artesian bore's water quality was very poor, prohibiting development as a potable source. This was an expensive setback for the city as the cost was over A$2 million for drilling to over . In January 2008, yield testing had been stalled due to the unavailability of appropriate pumping equipment. The Toowoomba Regional Council began supplementing the city's water supply with bore water from the Great Artesian Basin in September 2009.
Groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
has become a significant contributor to the city's water supply needs and now constitutes one third of the total volume of water treated for reticulated supply ( per week). The state government has built a $187 million pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam to Toowoomba. Water pumping along the pipeline to Cressbrook Dam began in January 2010.


Notable people


Sister cities

Toowoomba has
sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...
relations with three international cities: Whanganui, New Zealand; Takatsuki, Japan; and Paju, South Korea.


Religion

The recorded the following statistics for religious affiliation in Toowoomba: No religion 32.5%; Catholic 20.2%; Anglican 14.2%; Other Christian 5.1%. Toowoomba Wesleyan Methodist Church is at 267 North Street, Wilsonton Heights (). It is part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia. Toowoomba Chinese Wesleyan Methodist Church is at 21 Kookaburra Court, Glenvale (). It is part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia. Harrison (2006) has noted the appeal of Toowoomba as 'fertile ground' for fundamentalist Christian movements, particularly those with a religio-political outlook. This was exemplified by the Logos Foundation under the leadership of
Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptology, Egyptologist who Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered Tomb of Tutankhamun, the intact tomb of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, 18th Dynasty Pharaoh ...
in the 1980s.Roberts, G., Sex Scandal Divides Bible Belt, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October 1990


References


Attribution


Further reading

* Knowles, J. (1959) ''Toowoomba as a Railway Centre'', ''
Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions. History and pro ...
'', January 1959 pp. 10–16.


External links


Toowoomba.org – Toowoomba's HomepageToowoomba Tourist InformationToowoomba Historical Society Inc newsletter archive
State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

Peter Fischmann Toowoomba photographs 1985-1989
State Library of Queensland
Qld Open House Toowoomba website archive
State Library of Queensland
Toowoomba Art Society newsletter archive
State Library of Queensland
Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers Photographs
State Library of Queensland
Toowoomba Railway goods shed archival record
State Library of Queensland {{Authority control Darling Downs Towns in the Darling Downs 1849 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1849