Coominya View map of town area

Population 550

Name

The name Coominya means a view of water, and is a corruption of the Yugarabul Aboriginal name Kung-i-nya from Kung meaning water, and nya meaning to see. The name of the railway station, town, post office et cetera was adopted from some spot in the neighbourhood from which some lagoons could be seen. It is thought that these lagoons, which have since been drained, lay to the south-east in the direction of the district of Clarendon.

General

Coominya, situated midway between the towns of Esk and Lowood and quickly accessable from the Brisbane Valley Highway, has developed a reputation for its turn-of-the-century buildings, including the famous Bellevue Homestead beautifully restored by the National Trust of Queensland. The homestead is open to the public at various times, and its Manager would be pleased to help you on telephone (07) 5426 4209.

The town includes a modern State School serving it and the surrounding rural-residential community, a large public hall, and a typically popular country hotel for locals and passers-by.

History

The Lowood-Esk section of the Brisbane Valley Branch Railway (35 kilometres) was opened on August 9, 1886, and a railway station named Bellevue was opened on this section on the same day.

This station mainly served Bellevue homestead which was some eight kilometres away to the north-east (the entrance gates to the Bellevue property were opposite the railway station).

A Bellevue Station receiving office opened at the homestead in 1889, and a Bellevue Railway Station receiving office opened at the railway station in 1890.

In August, 1905 Mr Charles Lumley Hill, owner of Bellevue, asked that the name of the railway station be changed to Coominya because of confusion with his property. The post office and railway station names were changed to Coominya in October, 1905.

Sections 1 and 2 of the town of Coominya were surveyed in June, 1905 by Surveyor J R Atkinson on the Tarampa Repurchased Estate, and the plan lodged with the Survey Office on July 18, 1905.

(Sections of the information above were compiled from a 1996 edition of the Brisbane Valley and Kilcoy Sun newspaper which sourced the information from the history collection of Mr Pat Latter of Esk.)