Texas

History

Bigambul (also known as Bigambal, Bigumbil, Pikambul, Pikumbul) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Bigambul people. The Bigambul language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Goondiwindi Regional Council, including the towns of Goondiwindi, Yelarbon and Texas extending north towards Moonie and Millmerran. Texas sits on Bigambul land, the Indigenous people of the region who inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to colonisation in the 1840s. Texas, at one time, relied on its importance of grazing. It was settled in 1842 and was named after the largest nearby landholding in the area, known as Texas Station. The origin of the town's name is generally regarded as a reference to a territorial dispute. The land in the area was first settled by the McDougall brothers, who found squatters there on returning from the goldfields. Once their legal right to the land was recognised, they named their property in honour of the dispute between the United States and Mexico over territory in Texas. Land in Texas was open for selection on 17 April 1877; were available. Texas was connected by the Texas railway line from Inglewood in November 1930 with the town being served by the Texas railway station (). The line was closed in 1994, but officially remains operational. However, the station is officially abandoned. Up until about 1986, tobacco farming was an important industry in the area and many Italian families settled the area to run and work the tobacco farms. The tobacco industry had begun to be important in the late 1800s. In the 1870s, Chinese workers began to be employed on the Texas Station to grow the crop for local use. "They were employed because they had grown their own tobacco before, so you use…

Geography

The town is located just from Queensland's southern border with New South Wales, close to Bonshaw, New South Wales. The locality across the New South Wales border is also known as Texas, having a shared history as being part of the Texas pastoral run. State Route 89, a road with two names, runs through the locality, entering from the east as Stanthorpe – Texas Road (Mingoola Road, Fleming Street and High Street in the town) and exiting to the north-west as Inglewood – Texas Road (Greenup Street). Texas has the following mountains: * Texas Mount () * The Blacks Rock () The runway is approx of graded gravel. It is operated by the Goondiwindi Regional Council.

Most-observed species

• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  425
• Weebill

  Smicrornis brevirostris (Gould, 1838) · Aves
  395
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  385
• Mistletoebird

  Dicaeum hirundinaceum (Shaw, 1792) · Aves
  375
• Striated Pardalote

  Pardalotus striatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  375
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  341
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  317
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  296