Dalby, Queensland

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Dalby
Queensland

Location of Dalby (red)
Population: 12,765
Postcode: 4405
Elevation: 343.8 m (1,128 ft)
Location:
LGA: Dalby Regional Council
State District: Darling Downs
Federal Division: Maranoa
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Rainfall
26.3 °C
79 °F		 11.9 °C
53 °F		 676.4 mm
26.6 in

Dalby is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, and is located approximately 210 kilometres west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junction of the Warrego, Moonie and Bunya Highways. Dalby is the administrative centre of the Dalby Regional Council.

The name of the town is believed to come from the village of Dalby on the Isle of Man and reflects immigration from the Isle of Man in the mid nineteenth century.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Dalby was founded in the early 1840s at a place known locally as "The Crossing" on Myall Creek. The first settler was Henry Dennis, who explored the region and chose land for himself and others in the locality.[2] A small settlement was founded to assist travellers heading north to nearby Jimbour Station. The explorer Ludwig Leichhardt visited the area in 1844, on his way to Port Essington.[3]

In February 1853, the New South Wales government sent the Deputy Surveyor General Captain Samuel Perry to the area to survey a township. In August of the following year, Mr Charles Douglas Eastaughffe arrived with a document under the Seal of the N.S.W. Government officially proclaiming 'Dalby' a township. Mr Eastaughffe was later appointed Chief Constable and remained in Dalby until his retirement.[4] The first Post Office also opened in 1854 in Roche's store, with Mr Simpson as the first Postmaster.[5]

In 1859, Dalby was made part of the new state of Queensland.

St Joseph's Church, Dalby
St Joseph's Church, Dalby

[edit] Industry

Industry in Dalby includes large-scale engineering, coal mining, and fuels (ethanol). Dalby is the centre of a diverse and productive agricultural area with rich black soil allowing the production of crops such as wheat, cotton and sorghum. Livestock raising including pigs, cattle and sheep is also popular. Two cotton gins are situated within 10 km of the town.

Dalby is to be the site of the first dry mill grain-to-ethanol plant constructed in Australia (the first plant built specifically for the production of ethanol for fuel since the Second World War).[6]

[edit] Kogan Creek Power Station

The local area is developing an energy-based economy with a large coal-fired power station and a number of coal mines and natural gas bores being established to the west of Dalby.

Approximately 50 km west of Dalby is the Kogan Creek Power Station. This A$1.2 billion project is a 750-megawatt coal-fired power station, with adjacent coal mine being developed at the small town of Kogan, which is roughly equidistant between Dalby, Chinchilla, and Tara.

Kogan Creek Power Station will be the largest single generating unit in Australia. It will operate as a base load station, generating electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.[7]

[edit] Development

The recent opening of a shopping centre at the northern end of Cunningham Street has brought new life to the Dalby CBD. Dalby Shoppingworld includes Woolworths, Big W, Amcal and other specialty shops.

Dalby's Water Treatment Plant uses a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis process, and will soon have a second RO plant to cater for the town's increasing needs. The town has made a ground-breaking deal with nearby gas companies by taking water from gas fields. It has been noted that the town will have a definite water supply for at least another 30 years, taking into account demographic trends.

Dalby's population has been increasing rapidly recently with many new estates created and subdivisions made. Some notable new estates include Sunnyside Estate, Heritage Gardens, Callistemon Park and a new estate on the Warrego Highway side of Sandalwood Avenue.

[edit] List of Mayors

Dalby Town Council (1863 - 2008)

# Mayor Term
1 Frederick Roche 1863 -
John McQueen 1897
Victor Radcliffe Edward Drury 1910
Victor Radcliffe Edward Drury 1927
Thomas Jack 1930 - 1952
Warwick Geisel 1988 - 2008

Dalby Regional Council (2008 - current)

# Mayor Term
Raymond Brown 2008 - current

[edit] Notable residents of Dalby

[edit] Sister City

Dalby has a sister city named Fukaya in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

[edit] Monument to Cactoblastis

Dalby Cactoblastis monument
Dalby Cactoblastis monument

Dalby has a monument to the Cactoblastis cactorum in a park by the Myall Creek which runs through the town. According to the Lonely Planet, it is only monument to an insect in the world.

The plaque on the cairn reads:
"In 1925, prickly pear, the greatest example known to man of any noxious plant invasion, infested fifty million acres of land in Queensland, of which thirty million represented a complete coverage. The Dalby district was then heavily infested. The biological control investigation was undertaken by the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board, the joint project of the Commonwealth, Queensland and New South Wales governments.

Early in 1925, a small number of Cactoblastis cactorum insects was introduced from the Argentine by Alan Parkhurst Dodd, O.B.E., who was officer-in-charge of this scientific undertaking. They were bred in very large numbers and liberated throughout the prickly pear territory. Within ten years, the insects had destroyed all the dense masses of prickly pear.

This plaque, affixed by the Queensland Women's Historical Association on Thursday, 27 th. May 1965, records the indebtedness of the people of Queensland, and Dalby in particular, to the Cactoblastis cactorum, and their gratitude for deliverance from that scourge."

[edit] Education

Dalby Schools:

[edit] Local Media

  • @Dalby Magazine
  • Dalby Herald
  • Northern Downs News

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dalby Town Council Official website. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
  2. ^ http://www.dalby.qld.gov.au/history/early_history.asp
  3. ^ John and Anne Healy of Dalby, Family Record and Story (Feb 2005)
  4. ^ http://www.angelfire.com/folk/eastaughffe/cde.html
  5. ^ John and Anne Healy of Dalby, Family Record and Story (Feb 2005)
  6. ^ Hartland, Susan "$54 million ethanol plant for Dalby" Toowoomba Chronicle 9 November 2006 Retrieved 27 October 2006
  7. ^ CS Energy website Retrieved 27 October 2006

Coordinates: 27°11′S, 151°16′E

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