Toowoomba

History

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. This traditional landscape changed dramatically from 1840 with the incursion of British pastoralists into the region. Those Aboriginal Australians 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). 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 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. Toowoomba's colonial history traces back to when English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham arrived in Australia from Brazil. He conducted an inland expedition north from the New England region and in June 1827 encountered of rich farming and grazing land, which he named as the Darling Downs, bordered on the east by the Great Dividing Range and west of the settlement of Moreton Bay. 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 graduate, Arthur Hodgson, together with Gilbert Elliot and Cocky Rogers…

Geography

Toowoomba is on the crest of the Great Dividing Range, 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. The City of Toowoomba includes the following suburbs: * Cambooya * Centenary Heights * Charlton * Cotswold Hills2 * Cranley * Darling Heights * Drayton * East Toowoomba * Finnie * Glenvale2 * Gowrie Junction * Harlaxton * Harristown * Hodgson Vale * Kearneys Spring * Kingsthorpe * Lilyvale * Meringandan * Middle Ridge * Mount Kynoch * Mount Lofty * Mount Rascal * Newtown * North Toowoomba * Oakey * Preston * Prince Henry Heights * Rangeville * Redwood * Rockville * South Toowoomba * Toowoomba City (the city centre) * Torrington2 * Vale View * Westbrook * Wilsonton * Wilsonton Heights * Wyreema 2 - from former Shire of Jondaryan

Most-observed species

• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  3,736
• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  3,247
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  3,078
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  3,058
• Eastern Whipbird

  Psophodes olivaceus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,846
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  2,817
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  2,596
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  2,594