| Shire of Crows Nest Queensland |
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Location within Queensland |
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| Population: | 12,595(2006 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1913 | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 1629.9 km² (629.3 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Council Seat: | Crows Nest | ||||||||||||
| Region: | Darling Downs | ||||||||||||
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The Shire of Crows Nest was a Local Government Area located in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, immediately northeast of the regional city of Toowoomba. The shire, administered from the town of Crows Nest, covered an area of 1,629.9 square kilometres (629.3 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1913 until 2008, when it amalgamated with several other councils in the Toowoomba area to form the Toowoomba Region. Its growth in later years has been fuelled by the expansion of Toowoomba, particularly the suburbs of Highfields and Blue Mountain Heights which, with a combined population of 7,333 in 2006, were home to over half the Shire's population.
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Crows Nest was named after an Aboriginal man called Jimmy Crow, who lived in a hollow tree near the present council swimming pool. Timber hauling bullock teams would stop in this area overnight and Jimmy Crow used to give them directions. He was also a member of the first Australian cricket team to tour the United Kingdom. There is a 6 ft statue of Jimmy Crow in Centenary Park, Crows Nest to honour this legend.
The first local government in the area was the Highfields Divisional Board, which was incorporated on 11 November 1879 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Highfields became a shire council on 31 March 1903. On 25 January 1913, the Crows Nest Shire was excised from Highfields, initially over a somewhat smaller area. When Highfields was abolished on 19 March 1949, part of its area was included within Crows Nest. The council had two divisions each of which returned four councillors, and a separately elected chairman (mayor from 1993).
On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Crows Nest merged with the City of Toowoomba and the Shires of Cambooya, Clifton, Jondaryan, Millmerran, Pittsworth and Shire of Rosalie to form the Toowoomba Region.
| # | Mayor | Term |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Nolan | 1913 |
| 2 | J. A. McRae | 1914 |
| 3 | L. Dascombe | 1915 |
| 4 | Alfred Littleton | 1916 |
| 5 | A. King | 1917 |
| 6 | A. M. Collins | 1918 |
| 7 | Alfred Littleton | 1919—1930 |
| 8 | John Breydon | 1930—1933 |
| 9 | Alfred Littleton | 1933—1946 |
| 10 | Johann Christian Vandersee | 1946—1967 |
| 11 | Ernest Matthies Schefe | 1967—1970 |
| 12 | Colin Littleton | 1970—1988 |
| 13 | Ivan Vonhoff | 1988—1993 |
| 14 | Geoff Patch | 1993—2008 |
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1933 | 2,850 |
| 1947 | 2,361 # |
| 1954 | 3,733 |
| 1961 | 3,474 |
| 1966 | 3,244 |
| 1971 | 3,111 |
| 1976 | 3,445 |
| 1981 | 4,125 |
| 1986 | 5,308 |
| 1991 | 6,644 |
| 1996 | 8,644 |
| 2001 | 10,005 |
| 2006 | 12,595 |
# The estimated 1947 population of the post-1949 area was 4,036.[2]