Southern Downs and Granite Belt Heritage and Historic Building Trails

Allora

Allora is a town in Queensland, Australia, on the Darling Downs 158 km south-west of the state capital, Brisbane. The town is in the Southern Downs region. The township is located on the New England Highway between Warwick and Toowoomba. At the 2006 census, Allora had a population of 923.

The region surrounding this small farming community was first explored by Europeans in the 1840s; the town was surveyed in 1859. Its name is believed to derive from an Indigenous word "gnarrallah", meaning waterhole or swampy place. Following European settlement, the history of the area is entwined with two famous pastoral homesteads in the vicinity of Allora: Glengallan and Talgai. Both properties ran sheep. The original 'Talgai' run was taken up by E.E. Dalrymple in 1840. The creek that runs through Allora is named in his honour. Built in 1868 for the Clark family, Talgai homestead stood on 300,000 acres (1,200 km²). The homestead is built of sandstone and covers sixty squares. It is now a bed and breakfast. In 1884 the first fossil evidence of early human occupation, the Talgai skull, was found on the station, embedded in the wall of Dalrymple Creek. Radiocarbon dating suggests the Talgai skull is between 9,000 and 11,000 years old.

From the 1870s, red cedar, pine and beech logged from the Goomburra valley were milled at Allora.

Local attractions include the Goomburra Forest Reserve, part of which was World Heritage listed in 1994 by UNESCO. The Talgai skull is located in the Shellshear Museum, Department of Anatomy, Sydney University. A replica is found in the Allora Museum.

^{source: Wikipedia - September 2008}

Killarney

Originally part of Canning Downs, established by the Leslie brothers in 1840, the development of the town was largely based on primary production and forestry.

The South Killarney town site was first surveyed in 1878, but the town already boasted several shops and services by this time. Many early settlers to Queensland selected land in the Killarney area with the first of these arriving in 1863. During the 1880s Killarney was described as “one of the most flourishing towns in Southern Queensland”.

A branch railway was built from Warwick in 1885. The line closed in 1964.

The town was hit by a destructive tornado on Saturday 23 November 1968, which destroyed many of the original buildings. November 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of this storm. Of those remaining, the Butter Factory, the Co-op Building, MacKenzie’s Store (now St Vinnies), the former National bank (opposite the park), former Commercial Bank (opposite the Post Office), the Post Office and the Killarney Hotel hint at its former glory

^{source: Wikipedia - September 2008}

Stanthorpe

Stanthorpe was explored by Allan Cunningham in 1827. It was originally named ‘Quart Pot’ by Patrick Leslie, who accidentally left his quart pot behind the creek at which they had camped.

By 1844 squatters had taken up four major holdings in the area including Maryland which covered 200,000 acres, Pikedale, Glenlyon and Ballandean. The Crown Land Act of 1868, led to an influx of selectors, as well as enabling shepherds and other farm labourers to acquire land of their own. The large holdings began to shrink.

Tin was first found in the area in 1854 but the ‘rush’ did not occur until 1872. Gold, silver, copper, wolfram, arsenic and other important minerals were also found. The 1870’s discovery of tin at Quart Pot Creek brought miners to the area. Quart Pot became known as Stannum (Latin for tin), with its name later being gazetted as Stanthorpe, literally meaning ‘tin town’. The Stanthorpe tin field was the greatest tin producer in Queensland and its production has not been eclipsed to present times.

The railway arrived in 1881 bringing an influx of German settlers. Following World War I, soldier settlements were established and townships named after the French battlefields sprang up - Pozieres, Bapaume, Messines, Fleurbaix, Amiens, Bullecourt Passchendale and The Somme.

Warwick

Patrick Leslie and his two brothers originally settled in the area as squatters, naming their run Canning Downs. In 1847 the NSW government asked Patrick Leslie to select a site on his station for a township, which was to be called 'Cannington,' although the name 'Warwick' was eventually settled on. Land sales were held in 1850, and the first allotment was bought by Patrick Leslie. The telegraph to Brisbane was operating by 1861. The 1870s were boom years for this new town. In 1871 the railway reached Warwick, a brewery was built in 1873, then a cooperative flour mill and brick works were completed during 1874.

An event officially known as the Warwick Incident occurred on the 29 November 1917, which would lead to the formation of the Australian Commonwealth Police with the first commissioner for Commonwealth Police appointed eight days later. As Prime Minister William Morris Hughes was addressing a crowd at the Warwick railway station, a man in the crowd threw an egg dislodging the Prime Minister's hat. Hughes ordered his arrest but the Queensland State Police allegedly refused to carry out the order.

^{source: Wikipedia - September 2008}