Toowoomba, Queensland

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Toowoomba
QLD

Population: 90,199 (Census 2006) [1] (15th)
• Density: 209.4/km² (542/sq mi) [2]
Postcode: 4350
Elevation: 700 m (2,297 ft)
Time zone: AEST (UTC+10)
Location: 132 km (82 mi) from Brisbane
LGA: City of Toowoomba
State District: Toowoomba North, Toowoomba South and Cunningham
Federal Division: Groom

Toowoomba(also known as the 'The Garden City') is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. It is located 132 km (82 mi) west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane, and two hours drive from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast beaches. With an urban population of 90,199 (ABS 2006 Official Census [2]), Toowoomba is one of Australia's largest provincial cities.

A university and cathedral city, Toowoomba holds the Australian Carnival of Flowers each September, and the Australian Gospel Music Festival (AGMF) is held annually over the Easter weekend. The Carnival of Flowers draws many tourists, but has been hampered in recent years by the crippling drought in the region and the subsequent water restrictions placed on residents.

Contents

Main article: History of Toowoomba, Queensland

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 bordered on the east by the Great Dividing Range and situated 100 miles (160 km) west of the settlement of Moreton Bay. 13 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.

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 real founder of Toowoomba, although 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 their wish 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.

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.

A NASA Landsat montage of Toowoomba city
A NASA Landsat montage of Toowoomba city
Toowoomba suburbs on the edge of the range
Toowoomba suburbs on the edge of the range
Location of Toowoomba in Queensland (red)
Location of Toowoomba in Queensland (red)

Toowoomba is situated at a latitude and longitude of 27°33′S, 151°57′E.

The city 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 the majority 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 (1,860 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).

Toowoomba enjoys four distinct seasons and the rich volcanic soil in the region helps maintain the 150 public parks that are scattered across the city. Jacaranda and Camphor laurel 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 rarely see in Australia, a continent that is almost entirely forested with evergreens.

Daily maximum temperatures in Toowoomba average 27 °C (81 °F) in summer and 16 °C (61 °F) in winter. 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 °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 928 millimetres (37 in) per year in Toowoomba City. Rainfall in the eastern suburbs along the Great Diving Range nudges 1,000 mm (39 in) per year.

Currently, a combination of below average rainfall and significant population growth has seen temporary water restrictions imposed, including a complete ban on watering gardens. The city is under level 5 water restrictions as of September 26, 2006. This prohibits residents from watering their lawns, gardens or cars, and strongly urges residents to cut down on water consumption.

Main article: Politics of Toowoomba, Queensland

Toowoomba is located in and is the seat of the City of Toowoomba headed by the Mayor. The city is represented in the Parliament of Queensland by three seats: Toowoomba North, Toowoomba South and Cunningham. 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 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 (ADF) 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.

The City also has many large shopping centres including Grand Central Shopping Centre, Garden Town, The Ridge Shopping Centre, Clifford Gardens and KMart Plaza.

Toowoomba normal retail hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Saturday. Most major retailers and specialty stores open Thursday evenings, especially in summer. Major grocery stores etc are not open Sundays and Public Holidays.

Toowoomba is a major education centre.

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

State

Private/Religious

State High

Private/Religious

Ruthven Street Looking South
Ruthven Street Looking South
City Skyline From Neil Street
City Skyline From Neil Street
City CBD Looking South
City CBD Looking South

Toowoomba's history has been preserved in its buildings. Examples of architecture drawing from the city's wealthy beginnings include Toowoomba City Hall, 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. 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 30's.

After years of neglect, the Empire Theatre was extensively renovated in the late 1990s, but retains much of its Art Deco architecture and decorations, especially the proscenium arch. Able to seat 2,400 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.

Condamine Centre
Condamine Centre
Heritage Plaza
Heritage Plaza
Cottesloe Crest
Cottesloe Crest

A rugby league 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. The Clydesdales were the feeder team for Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 1999 to 2006.[3] 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.[4]

  • 4QS 747 AM (ABC National Radio) (Offices & Studios located on Margaret Street)
  • 4GR 864 AM (commercial) (Offices & Studios on Margaret St with C FM)
  • 4WK 1359 AM (commercial)- Relay of 4WK Warwick.
  • 4AK 1242 AM (commercial)- Based in Oakey, located 20 km (12 mi) west of Toowoomba CBD.
  • Radio 2 1620 AM (commercial)- Relay of Radio 2 network Sydney.

  • C FM 100.7 (commercial) - Named "C" fm rather than SEA due to Toowoomba's inland location, offices & studios on the corner of Margaret St and Burstow St, along with 4GR
  • Double 8FM (narrowcast) 88 FM - Non-community FM station featuring tourist information and the best 60s and 70s music, established in 1996. 88FM Toowoomba & 87.6FM Pittsworth
  • JJJ 104.1 FM - Also available 103.3 from Warwick and 107.7 from Brisbane
  • ABC Radio National 105.7 FM
  • ABC Classical FM 107.3
  • Country FM 91.5 (narrowcast)
  • 92.9 FM The Light (Christian community)
  • 93.7 FM (narrowcast - racing)
  • 99.1 FM (narrowcast) Kids FM - exclusively kids music and stories
  • 4DDB 102.7 FM (community)
  • River 949 94.9 FM - Ipswich based station broadcast into Toowoomba

Note: 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).

Toowoomba is serviced by four commercial stations and one non-commercial station.

News for Toowoomba is screened every weeknight at 6:00pm on WIN Television, broadcast live from the WIN studios in the Toowoomba suburb of Mt Lofty. On weekends, news is relayed from Channel 9, Brisbane. The current newsreaders on WIN News are Marita Ramia & Travis McNamara(main news), Pat O'Shea (sports) and Peter Byrne (weather).

Seven Queensland and Southern Cross Ten have a physical presence in Toowoomba, but local news programs do not exist on these channels. Instead, they carry news bulletins from Brisbane stations Channel 7 and Channel 10.

In addition to the local television stations, most Toowoomba households can receive Brisbane's three commercial TV stations, bringing the total number of free-to-air stations available in Toowoomba to eight.

Austar and SelecTV pay/subscription television services are also available to Toowoomba viewers.

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

Students at the University of Southern Queensland may experience difficulties using buses to reach class commencing at 8:00am or reaching home after classes finishing at 6:00pm. Students are advised to obtain a Transport card to ensure discount fares.

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 light rail/tram services, however the development of a suburban train system has been flagged. Toowoomba is criss-crossed by several railway lines which are largely unused, or used mainly for freight, while idle railway stations can be found in the suburbs (including Ballard, Drayton, Harlaxton and Harristown), dating to when these localities were separate centres. Proposals have centred on bringing these lines and stations into service, perhaps bolstered by additional lines and/or stations, however realisation is likely many years away.

Toowoomba is well-served by taxi services, with over 100 taxi cabs in existence. A taxi fare from the CBD to the city limits is usually under $20.

Toowoomba is serviced by one public hospital, Toowoomba Base Hospital, and two private hospitals - St. Andrew's Toowoomba Hospital and St. Vincents Hospital.

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, it sits above the eastern edge of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) 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. During March 2006 the surface water storage in the dams fell below 25% of full capacity, and as of December 2006 was at 20%.

Toowoomba City Council's Mayor Dianne Thorley has proposed a controversial potable reuse project under the Toowoomba Water Futures plan which will 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 steam gas production (TDS = 1200-4300 mg/L). Pre-feasibility study 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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 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. Jondaryan Shire Council is now negotiating with New Hope Corporation to provide water from the Oakey bore fields to Acland Coal.

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.

Current dam levels as of 11 August 2007 is at 13%. Toowoomba currently has level 5 water restrictions

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ National Regional Profile : Toowoomba (Statistical Subdivision) (ABS)
  3. ^ http://www.thechronicle.com.au/localsport/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3712929&thesection=localsport&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection
  4. ^ http://www.sportsnews.com.au/news.php?item.11599

Coordinates: 27°33′S, 151°57′E

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