Toowoomba

Toowoomba (nicknamed 'The Garden City') is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located 127 km (79 mi) west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane.^[3] With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city.^[1] The Toowoomba Region population in 2009 was 159,000.

A university and cathedral city, Toowoomba hosts the Australian Carnival of Flowers each September, and Easterfest is held annually over the Easter weekend. There are more than 150 public parks and gardens in Toowoomba.^[4] It has developed into a regional centre for business and government services.^[4]

History

Toowoomba's colonial history traces back to 1816 when English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham arrived in Australia from Brazil and in June 1827 discovered 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of rich farming and grazing land, which became known as the Darling Downs,^[5] bordered on the east by the Great Dividing Range and situated 100 miles (160 km) west of the settlement of Moreton Bay. Thirteen years later when George and Patrick Leslie established Toolburra Station 56 miles (90 km) south-west of Toowoomba the first settlers arrived on the Downs and established a township of bark-slab shops called The Springs which was soon renamed Drayton. Land for the town was first surveyed in 1849, then again in 1853.^[6]

Towards the end of the 1840s Drayton had grown to the point where it had its own newspaper, general store, trading post and the Royal Bull's Head Inn, which was built by William Horton and still stands today. Horton is regarded as the true founder of Toowoomba, despite the fact that he was not the first man to live there. Drovers and wagon masters spread the news of the new settlement at Toowoomba. By 1858 Toowoomba was growing fast. It had a population of 700, three hotels and many stores. Land selling at £4 an acre (£988/km²) in 1850 was now £150 an acre (£37,000/km²). Governor Bowen granted the wish of locals and a new municipality was proclaimed on 24 November 1860.

The first town council election took place on 4 January 1861 and William Henry Groom won. The railway from Ipswich was opened in 1867, bringing with it business development.^[4] In 1892, the Under Secretary of Public Land proclaimed Toowoomba and the surrounding areas as a township and in 1904 Toowoomba was declared a city. Pastoralism replaced agriculture and dairying by the 1900s.^[4]

Toowoomba was named as Australia's Tidiest Town in 2008.^[7]

Geography

Toowoomba is situated at a latitude and longitude of . Toowoomba sits on the crest of the Great Dividing Range, around 700 metres (2,300 ft) above sea level. A few streets are on the eastern side of the edge of the range, but most of the city is west of the divide.

The City occupies the edge of the range and the low ridges behind it. Two valleys run north from the southern boundary, each arising from springs either side of Middle Ridge near Spring Street at an altitude of around 680 m. These waterways, East Creek and West Creek flow together just north of the CBD to form Gowrie Creek.

Gowrie Creek drains to the west across the Darling Downs and is a tributary of the Condamine River, part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The water flowing down Gowrie Creek makes its way some 3,000 km (1,900 mi) to the mouth of the Murray River near Adelaide in South Australia. Rain which falls on the easternmost streets of Toowoomba flows east to Moreton Bay a distance of around 170 km (110 mi).

The rich volcanic soil in the region helps maintain the 150 public parks that are scattered across the city. Jacaranda, Camphor laurel and Plane trees line many of the city streets. The city's reputation as 'The Garden City' is highlighted during the Australian Carnival of Flowers festival held in September each year. Deciduous trees from around the world line many of the parks, giving a display of autumn colour.^[8] This is particularly rare in Australia, as nearly the entire continent is forested with evergreens.

Suburbs

Architecture and heritage

Toowoomba's history has been preserved in its buildings. Examples of architecture drawing from the city's wealthy beginnings include Toowoomba City Hall which was Queensland's first purpose-built town hall,^[4] the National Trust Royal Bull's Head Inn and many examples in the heritage-listed Russell Street. Immediately to the east of the CBD is the Caledonian Estate, an area of turn of the 20th century housing, ranging from humble workers cottages to large stately homes, in the classic wooden Queenslander style.

Toowoomba is also home to The Empire Theatre, which was originally opened in June 1911, as a silent movie house. In February 1933, fire broke out, almost completely destroying the building.^[9] However, the Empire was rebuilt and reopened in November 1933. The architectural styling of the new Empire Theatre was art deco, in keeping with the trend of the 1930s. After years of neglect, the Empire Theatre was extensively renovated in the late 1990s, but retains much of its art deco architecture and decorations,^[9] especially the proscenium arch. Able to seat approximately 1,500 people, the Empire Theatre is now the largest regional theatre in Australia.

The City also is home to the Cobb & Co Museum, hailing to the famous mail company's beginnings as a small mail run in the 1800s to transport mail and passengers to Brisbane and beyond. It also houses Australia's largest collection of horse-drawn vehicles. The museum has undergone a A$8 million redevelopment before reopening in September 2010.^[10]

Climate

Toowoomba has a temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters and it enjoys four distinct seasons. Compared to most of Queensland, the town is cooler, mainly because of its high elevation.

Daily maximum temperatures in Toowoomba average 27 °C (81 °F) in summer and 16 °C (61 °F) in winter.^[11] According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the highest temperature ever recorded in Toowoomba was 39.3 °C (102.7 °F), while the lowest was −4.4 °C (24.1 °F). Winter temperatures seldom go below freezing; however in a situation unique among Queensland cities, snow has been reported on the higher parts of the city on rare occasions. Light frost will be experienced several nights each winter in the city centre, more often in the western suburbs.

Average annual rainfall, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, is 944 millimetres (37.2 in) in Toowoomba City.^[11] Rainfall in the eastern suburbs along the Great Dividing Range nudges 1,000 mm (39 in) per year.

On 10 January 2011 the city was hit by a massive flash flood causing damage to properties, infrastructure and resulting in the deaths of two people in the CBD. The flash flood, which has been called an "Inland Tsunami", has resulted in sixteen deaths in Toowoomba and the nearby Lockyer Valley, with 14 people still missing.^[13][14][15]

Governance

Toowoomba is located in and is the seat of the Toowoomba Region local government area. The city is represented in the Parliament of Queensland by three seats: Toowoomba North, Toowoomba South and Condamine. Toowoomba North is the only Labor held seat in Toowoomba. In the Commonwealth Parliament, Toowoomba forms part of the Division of Groom, which is held by Ian MacFarlane for the Liberal Party of Australia. The current Mayor of Toowoomba is Mayor Peter Taylor.

Economy

The largest industry employers in Toowoomba (2004) are retail trade (17.8%); health and community services (13.3%); manufacturing (12.2%); and education (11.1%). Professional employment was the most prominent occupation (18.2%) followed by clerical, sales and service workers (17.7%) and tradespersons and related workers (13.3%). The Australian Defence Force is also present in the local community, with the city providing housing and amenities for many of the personnel based at the Oakey Army Aviation Centre (in Oakey, 29 km (18 mi) NW of Toowoomba) and Borneo Barracks at Cabarlah to the city's North.

Economic growth potential in the region has been identified through the development of energy resources found in the Surat Basin and in food processing.^[16]

Education

Toowoomba is a major education centre.

Primary

There are numerous primary schools in Toowoomba. Among these are:

Secondary

Tertiary

• University of Southern Queensland
• Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE (SQIT) has extensive campuses to the east of the CBD.
• University of Queensland has a small centre in Toowoomba.
• There are several private post-secondary colleges and training providers in Toowoomba.

Culture

Festivals

Toowoomba is nationally^[17] renowned for the annual Carnival of Flowers, held each year in September. Many of the city's major parks and gardens are especially prepared for the Carnival, which also includes a prominent Home Garden Competition, with persons able to visit participating homes and gardens for inspection, and a Parade with flower-themed floats. Buses bring people from around the nation,^[18] and a popular way to arrive at the Carnival from Brisbane is on specially chartered retired steam or diesel train,^[19] which captures the yesteryear aspect of travel to Toowoomba in 19th century wooden carriages.

In 1953 the Carnival of Flowers was the subject of a sponsored film produced by the Queensland Minister for Lands and Irrigation. The Carnival of Flowers depicts the floral parade, a home garden's competition and the crowning of the Floral Queen and is a wonderful portrait of life in 1950's Queensland.^[20]

Toowoomba is also home to Australia's largest Drug & Alcohol free festival, Easterfest.

Food

Toowoomba is well served by a great selection of restaurants, cafe's and eateries throughout the city. Toowoomba also is home to the Weis Bar and the Lamington. Favourite eating spots include La Pizzaiola, Veraisons, Encores, Picnic Point Cafe and Restaurant, Gips, The Olive Branch, Weis, and many other dining venues.

Sport

Rugby league is a popular sport in Toowoomba. A team representing Toowoomba used to compete in the Bulimba Cup tournament. Toowoomba currently does not host a team in any of the major national competitions but was home to the Toowoomba Clydesdales in the Queensland Cup state league. Toowoomba also have a team in the Daily Telegraph Supercoach competition, Toowoomba Locusts, and are coached by Jacob Dunstan. The Clydesdales were the feeder team for Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 1999 to 2006.^[21] The Clysedales dropped out of the Queensland Cup after the 2006 season due to financial difficulties and are no longer a feeder club for the Brisbane Broncos.^[22]

The city has a soccer club Toowoomba Raiders FC that plays in the Brisbane Premier League Division 1. The Garden City Raiders are the junior soccer club.

Australian rules football is played by four senior teams in the AFL Darling Downs competition: Coolaroo, Toowoomba Tigers, University of Southern Queensland and South Toowoomba. The sport is not as popular as the Rugby codes, but is gaining in popularity amongst juniors. In 2006, Brad Howard became the first draftee from Toowoomba to the Australian Football League.

Toowoomba has clubs for other sports including cricket (Toowoomba Cricket Inc), archery, swimming, tennis, softball, baseball, netball (Toowoomba Netball Association), hockey (Toowoomba Hockey Association), gridiron (Chargers) and basketball (Toowoomba Basketball Association). The city is also home of the Toowoomba Mountaineers Basketball Team, which participates in the Queensland Basketball League (QBL).

Sport at both junior and senior level in Toowoomba and surrounding areas is promoted by Sports Darling Downs, a non-profit organisation based in Toowoomba.

Toowoomba is home to Clifford Park Racecourse, one of Australia's leading provincial race tracks. Clifford Park Racecourse was acquired as a 160-acre (0.65 km²) block in 1861. The first meeting on it was conducted by the Darling Downs Jockey Club at the course, then known as Drayton and Toowoomba Racecourse, on 6 March 1862.

In 1882, Toowoomba Turf Club was formed and conducted its first meetings on 3 & 4 June that year. The first recorded Toowoomba Cup as run in 1919. In 1992, the club made Australian racing history by staging the first race ever run under electric lights, the Fosters Toowoomba Cup, which was won by Waigani Drive. On 4 September 1996, the club staged the first ever night race meeting in Australia. Known as the 'Home of twilight racing' Clifford Park continues to race under lights every Saturday night and hosts 57 TAB race meeting per year.

The Toowoomba Turf Club continued to make Australian racing history when on 16 February 2009 members voted in favour of the replacement of the grass course proper with a synthetic racing surface called Cushion Track. The completion of the project will take full effect on 11 July 2009 when the annual Weetwood Handicap and Toowoomba Cup meeting will be held for the first time on the cushion track surface.

Not to forget, of course Rugby Union. Toowoomba has a number of teams, including University of Southern Queensland Rugby Union Club, Toowoomba Rangers Rugby Union Club, Toowoomba City Rugby Club, which compete in the Regional Rugby Union competition, against such teams as, the Roma Echidnas, the Condamine Cods, the Dalby Wheatmen, the Goondiwindi Emus, the Warwick Water Rats and the University of Queensland Rugby Union Club (Gatton Campus).

Notable people

Media

Print

• The Toowoomba Chronicle
• Toowoomba Mail

Radio

• 4QS – AM 747 (part of the ABC Local Radio Queensland network)
• 4GR – AM 864 (commercial – part of the Macquarie Regional RadioWorks network.)
• 4AK – AM 1242 (commercial) – Based in Oakey, located 20 km (12 mi) west of Toowoomba CBD.
• 4WK – AM 1359 (commercial) – Relay of 4WK Warwick.
• Radio 2 1620 (commercial)- Relay of Radio 2 network Sydney.
• C FM 100.7 (commercial) – Named "C" fm rather than SEA due to Toowoomba's inland location
• CITY FM (narrowcast) 87.6 – Nostalgia Music
• POWER FM (narrowcast) 88.0 – Non-community FM station
• Triple J FM 104.1 – Also available 103.3 from Warwick and 107.7 from Brisbane
• ABC Radio National FM 105.7
• ABC Classic FM 107.3
• Country FM 91.5 (narrowcast)
• Voice FM 92.9 : The Light (Christian community)
• 93.7 FM (narrowcast – racing)
• 99.1 (narrowcast) Kids FM – exclusively kids music and stories
• 4DDB FM 102.7 (community)

Owners of CFM 100.7 and 4GR (Gold Radio Pty. Ltd) also own all 3 narrowcast stations in Toowoomba (91.5, 93.7 & 99.1 FM).

Television

Toowoomba is serviced by three commercial national network stations and two national non-commercial network stations. These are Seven Queensland, Southern Cross Ten, WIN Television, ABC TV (ABC1) and SBS TV (SBS ONE).

Each broadcasts television services in both analogue and digital formats, with analogue transmissions to be deactivated in the second half of 2011.^[23]

Ten additional digital-only channels are also available: ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, GEM, GO!, One HD, Eleven, SBS Two, 7Two, and 7mate.

SBS offers digital high-definition simulcasts of their main channel, SBS ONE on SBS HD.

Of the three main commercial networks, WIN airs a 30-minute local news bulletin each weeknight from its Mount Lofty studios, where bulletins for the Mackay & Townsville regions also originate. Both Seven Queensland and Southern Cross Ten have offices in the city with short local news updates airing on Southern Cross Ten throughout the day.

Brisbane metropolitan commercial channels BTQ-7 (Seven Network), QTQ-9 (Nine Network) and TVQ-10 (Network Ten) broadcasting from transmission towers at Mount Coot-tha can also be received in some parts of Toowoomba.

Infrastructure

Transport

There are extensive suburban bus services operated by Bus Queensland (who took over from Garden City Sunbus) throughout the city from around 9:00 am to around 5:30 pm Monday to Friday. A limited service runs Saturday. There are no Sunday services.

There are frequent inter-city bus services between Toowoomba and Brisbane, and other centres.

Toowoomba is not included in TransLink, the Southeast Queensland integrated public transport system—a matter of some local contention.

Toowoomba has a twice weekly rail service from Brisbane to Charleville, Queensland and return on QR's Westlander.

There are no local rail or tram services, however the development of a suburban railway system has been flagged. Toowoomba is criss-crossed by several railway lines which are largely unused, or used for freight, and idle railway stations can be found in the suburbs (including Ballard, Drayton, Harlaxton and Harristown) dating to when these localities were separate centres.

Toowoomba is serviced by Toowoomba Airport, which is used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Darling Downs Aeroclub.

Health

Toowoomba is serviced by one public hospital, Toowoomba Base Hospital, and two private hospitals – St. Andrew's Toowoomba Hospital and St. Vincents Hospital. There is also the Toowoomba Hospice which is a community based private healthcare facility which provides palliative care to the terminally ill.

Water

Combined water supply for the City (current as of 10 January 2011): 99.8% or 126,467 ML.

Toowoomba's third water storage Cressbrook Dam was completed in 1983 and supplied water to Toowoomba in 1988. It has a full capacity of about 80,000 megalitres bringing total capacity of the three dams, Cooby, Perseverance, and Cressbrook, to 126,000 megalitres.

The city also has underground supplies in fractured basalt. Toowoomba sits above the eastern edge of the Great Artesian Basin and to the west underground water is available beneath agricultural alluvium.

The average rainfall in the period 1998 to 2005 has been 30% below the long term average consistent with a prolonged drought and this trend continued through to spring of 2007. In mid 2005, the water situation for the city was becoming critical with water supply levels below 30%.^[24] Environmental flows from Cressbrook Dam into Cressbrook Creek were allowed to cease as Toowoomba approached level five water restrictions.^[24] During March 2006 the surface water storage in the dams fell below 25% of full capacity, falling even more to 12.8% as of 10 March 2008. The city's water supply was at an all time low of 7.7% in December 2009.^[25]

The previous Toowoomba Mayor Dianne Thorley proposed a controversial potable re-use project under the Toowoomba Water Futures plan which would result in water reclaimed from the Wetalla Sewage Treatment Plant being returned to Cooby Dam to provide 25% of the potable water supply for Toowoomba. Other water supply options include importing water from Oakey Creek Groundwater Management Area (average TDS = 1660 mg/L), importing water from Condamine Groundwater Management Area (Average TDS = 740 mg/L), and water from coal seam gas production (TDS = 1200–4300 mg/L).

One of the difficulties with the Water Futures proposal was that it relied on Acland Coal, a subsidiary of New Hope Corporation, taking the reverse osmosis waste stream. However, they had never agreed to this. Without their involvement, 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi) of evaporation ponds, costing at least an additional $70 million, would have been required. This amount was not included in Council's budget for the Water Futures project.

On 29 July 2006 Toowoomba City Council conducted a poll of Toowoomba residents on the proposal to use this multi-barrier filtration system for filtering sewage for drinking purposes. The poll question was: "Do you support the addition of purified recycled water to Toowoomba’s water supply via Cooby Dam as proposed by Water Futures – Toowoomba?” 38% of voters supported the proposal and 62% opposed. This meant that despite dams reaching critical levels, the city rejected the use of recycled water in a plebiscite. Since the public rejection in 2006 of adding recycled sewage to the drinking water supply, water conservation measures have included harvesting stormwater for use in public parks and adding filtered groundwater to the town water supply.The city was under level 5 water restrictions as of 26 September 2006. This prohibits residents from using town water on their lawns, gardens or cars, and residents are strongly urged to cut down on water consumption.

In 2007, the Toowoomba City Council commenced a bore drilling program to augment the dwindling dam supplies and constructed several subartesian bores across the city and one artesian bore at Wetalla in the city's north. Many of the subartesian bores provided potable water with a reliable yield and have been developed into production however the artesian bore's water quality was very poor, prohibiting development as a potable source. This was an expensive setback for the city as the cost was over A$2 million for drilling to over 700 metres. In January 2008, yield testing had been stalled due to the unavailability of appropriate pumping equipment. The Toowoomba Regional Council began supplementing the city's water supply with bore water from the Great Artesian Basin in September 2009.^[26] Groundwater has become a significant contributor to the city's water supply needs and now constitutes one third of the total volume of water treated for reticulated supply (160 ML per week).^[27]

Also in 2007, the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water initiated a subartesian drilling program centred on Toowoomba to expand its network of groundwater monitoring stations in the Main Range Volcanics. With the increased demand for groundwater in the area from council, commercial and urban users, more information was required to effectively manage the resource whereas previously the location and density of monitoring stations would not provide enough data.

The state government has built a $187 million pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam to Toowoomba. Water pumping along the 38 km pipeline to Cressbrook Dam began in January 2010.^[28]

Sister cities

Toowoomba has sister city relations with three international cities: Wanganui, New Zealand; Takatsuki, Japan; and Paju, South Korea.^[29]

References

Further reading

Toowoomba as a Railway Centre, Knowles, J Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January 1959 pp10–16

External links

• Toowoomba.org – Toowoomba's Homepage
• University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Toowoomba
• Toowoomba Regional Council
• The Chronicle – Daily newspaper for Toowoomba and surrounding regions
• Toowoomba Tourist Information
• Sports Darling Downs