Goomburra

History

The town's name came from the name of a pastoral run operated by pastoralist Patrick Leslie 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. Circa August 1901, the Queensland Government 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. 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 Phillip Aspinall. 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. On 31 December 1919 in the public hall, Littleton Groom (the member for Darling Downs) unveiled the town's honour board, listing the 32 names of those who had performed military service in World War I including 10 who died in the war.

Geography

Goomburra is on the Darling Downs. It is the valley of Dalrymple Creek which flows from east to west away from the Great Dividing Range towards Allora. The creek eventually becomes a tributary of the Condamine River, 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) 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. Apart from the protected area, the land use is a mix of crop growing (mostly on the lower elevations near Dalrymple Creek), grazing on native vegetation (mostly on the higher elevations), and some rural residential housing.

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  400
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  349
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  306
• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  288
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  260
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  247
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  245
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  231