Goombungee

History

The name Goombungee derives from the parish, which in turn took its name from a pastoral run name named by pastoralist Charles William Pitts in 1854. It is thought be a corruption of an Aboriginal name for area, either goubunga or gonbunga. The first meeting of the former local government area of Shire of Rosalie was held on 17 February 1879. The town is now part of the Toowoomba Region local government area. Goombungee Post Office opened by 1895 (a receiving office had been open from 1878, first known as Gomoran). Local residents requested a school on 31 May 1880, claiming there were 36 school-aged children in the district. Goombungee Provisional School opened on 1 November 1881 in a weatherboard building with a shingle roof. The first head teacher was Mrs Annie McLeod Rowland. Although only 17 students enrolled in the school's first year, the original building became too small as the student numbers increased. A new larger building was opened on 3 October 1887 when the school became Goombungee State School. A new school building was built in 1933. In October 1890, St Matthew's Lutheran Church opened with 500 people in attendance. St Colman's Catholic Church was opened on Sunday 20 April 1902. In August 1889 the Queensland Government provided of land for a cemetery. However, the soil proved too difficult to dig a grave, so another cemetery reserve was provided on 17 January 1894. The first burial in the new cemetery was Edith Annie Lloyd, aged 10 months, occurring on 23 July 1894. Although intended as a cemetery for Goombungee, its location resulted in it being used by residents of both Goombungee and Haden and the name Goombungee-Haden Cemetery began to be used in 1925. In 2008 the cemetery's private trustees handed over the responsibility for the cemetery…

Geography

Goombungee is north-west of Toowoomba in the Darling Downs. which was named by the Queensland Railways Department on 12 May 1910 and is an Aboriginal word meaning while ants/termites * Nara () around the former Nara railway station, * Weelu () around the former Weelu railway station,

Most-observed species

• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  1,968
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,948
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,798
• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  1,784
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  1,583
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,573
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  1,485
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,420

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2007-08-25
  40 km W of Kingaroy, Australia
• M 3.6 — 2005-03-07
  36 km WNW of Kingaroy, Australia