Where is toowoomba qld

Head to the Garden City during the month of September and join the festivities as the city blooms to life to celebrate the beginning of Spring with the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. Just 90 minutes drive west from Brisbane, sitting metres above sea level make your way up the Great Dividing Range.

Getting there is easy, whether you come by road, rail or air — look for the Great Dividing Range and rise m above it. Time your visit for spring to soak up the atmosphere of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers , a ten day festival of food and florals that takes over the region.

In the current Covid climate, travel and border restrictions change regularly so we recommend checking the Queensland Health Website before traveling to our region. For current lock down restrictions click here and for travel restrictions to and within Queensland click here.

We look forward to welcoming you back to Southern Queensland Country when restrictions are lifted. The most interesting are:. Located at Margaret Street which was designed in an Italianate style. Over the years it has been greatly altered but the clock tower and the two storey loggia are original features of this imposing building. The Empire Theatre - Built in to show both "moving pictures" and vaudeville, it burnt down in It was rebuilt and is central to the cultural life of Toowoomba.

St Patrick's Cathedral - located in James Street this impressive church was built in and stands on the original 2 acre grant. The area is called the Caledonian Estate because in the s it was used by the Caledonian Society for their sports. The brochure explains the architectural styles of the estate and points the visitor towards distinctive and significant buildings to the east of East Creek Reserve.

The brochure draws attention to the architectural styles as well as the fauna and flora of the area. Of note are Vacy Hall built in the s. The house is characterised by beautiful bay windows, a magnificent surrounding garden, and extensive areas of patterned parquetry floors.

It was built in as a residential club for squatters. It is a superb example of the way stone and timber can be integrated with the sandstone providing the solidity of the building while the upstairs timber veranda is an almost delicate addition. It describes all of the main historic features of the park and should be read in conjunction with the Queens Park Gardens brochure. The brochure focuses on the early cottages and houses which characterise the area.

This historic home is now surrounded by suburbia but it was once an elegant dwelling in a rural setting. It is a superb rural residence having been built in stone with wide verandas and elegant paired timber columns and located on a acre section of land. The Heritage listing from the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection explains: "Smithfield House is reflective of the pattern of affluent settlement which occurred in Toowoomba in the late 19th century, demonstrating the transition of the Darling Downs from a sparsely populated rural district to one of prosperity and prominence.

It is one of the many fine residences which reflect Toowoomba's leading position during the development of the rich Darling Downs. It is typical of a residence built for wealthy landowners on the Darling Downs during the period. The relatively large property located amongst small suburban blocks is reflective of the pattern of land settlement in Toowoomba prior to sub-division and close urban settlement which occurred from the mid 20th century onwards.

Smithfield originally occupied acres and the current lot is the remnant of this early property Its spacious gardens complement the house creating a sense of the balance between the substantially sized house and its surrounding environment.

Smithfield House's most famous occupant was a German industrialist Oscar Flemmich who kept thoroughbred horses and employed a large number of grooms and servants. It is said that when he left the area he shot all his horses and dogs rather than let them go to another owner. He left during World War I possibly because of the anti-German feeling that was around at the time. It was the location of the first Church of England church service on the Darling Downs when, in , Rev Benjamin Glennie held a service in one of the rooms.

The building was extended in and for some time it was known as the best building on the Darling Downs. It was certainly good enough for the Governor of Queensland to stay the night. The Queensland Heritage Register records: "In , an inn of superior quality was built by William Horton at what was by then called 'Drayton'. Horton sometimes referred to as Orton , was an ex-convict who had come to the Downs to work for Henry Stuart Russell of Cecil Plains, by whom he was highly regarded.

Horton had run a hotel for George Thorn at Ipswich in the early s and, with this experience, set out to make his new hotel a by-word for comfort and service on the Downs. The hotel soon became an important meeting place for squatters and also had a thriving bar trade. It offered lodging, a staging place for animals and was used for auctions, meetings and other social functions. There are ten rooms downstairs and five upstairs. The enclosed section of the verandah which contained the s bathroom and kitchen is now used as a kitchen and tea room.

The roof is clad by corrugated iron and pierced by four dormer windows which are a striking and well recognised feature of the of the building. The building is set on a s concrete slab which replaced the original bed logs. Today the building is owned by the National Trust.

It is open on the first Sunday of the month from The original kitchen, the rooms of the hotel, and the interior have all been carefully restored. Drayton was the first town established beyond the Great Dividing Range in Queensland. It was settled in It was a natural stopping place for people who had spent most of the day moving up the steep slopes of Gorman's Gap. It was a popular watering hole for the local squatters and their workers.

That same year saw the construction and operation of the area's first sawmill. Slowly a settlement grew up in this area.

Its original, and rather unromantic, name was 'The Swamp'. That same year a branch of the Bank of New South Wales was opened, the gaol and Court House were built, and the School of Arts and a number of churches were built.

With the increased trade the town blossomed with a large numbers of elegant buildings being erected and the trees, which are now a distinctive part of the city's appearance, being planted. There is a useful and very comprehensive website maintained by the Toowoomba Regional Council. Whenever I visit Toowoomba, and make the remarkable climb up from the plains to the plateau, I think of Bruce Dawe's poem Provincial City which opens with: Climbing the range your ears pop like champagne Location Toowoomba is located km west of Brisbane via the Warrego Highway.

The most interesting are: The Old Post Office - "This fine building was Toowoomba's second post office, built in