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Esk Visitor Information Centre

82 Ipswich Street

PO Box 117 ESK Q 4312

Ph: (07) 5424 2923

Website: www.esk.qld.gov.au

A TOWN IS BORN

TOWN OF TOOGOOLAWAH

Part of the Brisbane Valley Heritage Trail

TOOGOOLAWAH

Brisbane Valley

Heritage Trail

Brisbane Valley

Heritage Trail

Toogoolawah Sawmill 1918

Nestle Factory Toogoolawah 1920

Toogoolawah Railway Station 1920

Toogoolawah Firms 1917

In 1841 D.C. McConnel and family settled in the Brisbane Valley

and established Cressbrook Station that is still in the hands of the

McConnel family. By the 1890s this area was opened up for closer

settlement.

A town, Biarra, had been surveyed on the Esk-Nanango Road and

some of the allotments had been occupied. J. McConnel developed

a Condensed Milk factory on the banks of Cressbrook Creek, using

milk supplied by local farmers. "Cressbrook Milk" became a very

popular commodity.

When the first passenger train arrived in February 1904 there was

confusion between Cressbrook Station and Cressbrook Railway

Station so Mr. McConnel chose the name "Toogoolawah" for the

Railway Station. The family home in Brisbane on the Bulimba

reach of the Brisbane River was called "Tugulawa" meaning "bend

in the river" and this seemed an appropriate name for the new

railway station in the Brisbane Valley.

It wasn't long before Toogoolawah rather than Biarra became the

preferred township site. Allotments were offered for sale here and

so a town was born

In 1906 you had your choice of three ways of reaching the

tiny village of Toogoolawah: carry your swag, ride a horse or

catch one of the three trains per week that ran from Ipswich to

Kannangur (Yimbun), just four miles beyond Toogoolawah. From

the terminus Wally McCallum or his brother Archie drove the

coach to Yarraman.

With the development of the milk factory and rail line the town

grew. In 1907 Nestle's acquired the Cressbrook factory and by

the 1920s Toogoolawah was a busy centre with 3000 citizens and

another 2000 in the surrounding areas. There was an extensive

array of shops, hotels, cafes, hospitals, workshops, halls and

churches to cater to the needs of the people. In 1929 Nestle's

closed the factory and many families left the district. In 1972 more

farms were resumed for the Wivenhoe Dam. Today Toogoolawah

does not have the population of the 1920's but is still an important

primary industry area with cattle breeding and fattening, feedlots,

dairying, lucerne, horticulture crops and turf growing.

Because so many families have been associated with the area in the

past, the local cemeteries may be of interest. The Toogoolawah

cemetery is several kilometres north of Toogoolawah in the old

Biarra town. Older cemeteries associated with the Apostolic

and Lutheran Churches are located at Mt. Beppo, along with the

Caboonbah Church. There are still family cemeteries on private

land; the only one open to the public is located at Caboonbah

homestead.

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Esk Shire Council took the RED DEER as its coat of arms in

recognition of Queen Victoria's gift of two stags and four does

to Queensland after separation. They came from the royal herd

at Windsor Park and were released in 1873 at Scrub Creek, on

Cressbrook Station. They are protected and can still be seen in the

wild throughout the Shire.

A packing shed is all that is left of the Nestles and Anglo-Swiss

Condensed Milk Factory that flourished here from 1898 until 1929.

Originally owned by the McConnel family, it was sold to Nestles in

1907. The "Condensery" had the first railway service to the district

(October, 1903) and in 1927 its generators supplied bulk electricity to

Toogoolawah. The factory closed in 1929 and a fire in 1951 destroyed

all but the existing packing shed.

The War Memorial,

erected in McConnel Park in

1916/7, is a Granite Obelisk,

made by F. Williams & Co.,

Ipswich and paid for by the

citizens of Toogoolawah.

Both the war memorial and

the park are heritage listed.

It is the second known

World War I monument

built in Queensland and

the first to remain in situ

outside a cemetery. It now

commemorates those who fell

in WWI, WWII and SEAsia

In 1884, all church congregations worshiped in the Union

Chapel, an undenominational church in the surveyed township of

Biarra some four kms NE of Toogoolawah on the Brisbane Valley

Highway. This old building was removed to Toogoolawah in 1906 and

became the Apostolic Church of Toogoolawah in 1929. Its shingle

roof was replaced and it has been extended. This church still serves the

community.

St. Andrew's Church of England was dedicated in 1912

and designed by Robin Dods who developed a unique Queensland

architecture at the turn of the 20

century. This building has been

heritage listed for its architectural significance. It is characterised by

a steep roof shingled originally in crows ash. The buttresses on the

northern and southern sides of the building were added later. The church

is lined with tongue and groove and boasts a carved silky oak altar.

The A.R.S.L. Memorial Hall was built on this site in 1927 and

became the "Roxy Theatre" whose proprietor was Mr. Les Williams.

It was used for showing silent movies and also offered a venue for

roller skating. It was purchased by the RSL in 1949.

The Alexandra Hall was purpose built by the Toogoolawah

Amateur Gardening and Progress Association in 1906. It was later

enlarged, provided with electricity and re-opened on 31

August, 1921

with a fancy dress ball. This Hall still provides the venue for balls, dances,

concerts, public meetings, school activities and regular film nights.

The first hotel in Toogoolawah was the Club Hotel (1906),

followed by the Commercial Hotel (1908), now the Toogoolawah Hotel

and the Exchange Hotel (1911). All have been fire damaged with the

Commercial and the Exchange Hotels rebuilt in the original style.

The Toogoolawah Railway Station was opened to public traffic

in February, 1904. At its height, the Railway complex boasted a tool

shed, trolley shed, turntable, rail motor, goods shed, log loading stage,

bulk store for Thompson & Francis, camping quarters, lamp room,

receiving yard, cattle yards, council tanks, pig pens, station master’s

residence, fire station, platform, office and toilet facilities. The service

was discontinued in 1989 and only the offices remain.

The Post Office was established originally in 1904 as a receiving

office in Thompson & Francis's store (now Co-op.) It was removed to

the railway station in September, 1905 and a "semi-official" post office

was opened by T.E. Swan. This was accorded full official status in

1912 with W.W. Atkin as first postmaster .

10.

The oldest and largest general store in town is the Esk District

Co-operative. It began on the present site as a general store in 1904

owned by Thompson and Francis. The original building proved too

small and this was moved to become the current corner store. Larger

premises were built for "T & F's" on the original site. These buildings

were purchased by the Esk Co-Operative Dairying Association in 1956

and extended in 1985. It carries a full range of goods necessary to a

rural community.

11.

The Toogoolawah Show Grounds comprise forty acres bought

by the Toogoolawah Show Society in 1913 which are used annually for

the Agricultural Show, Campdraft and Rodeo.

12.

The Toogoolawah Sawmill has been in continuous operation

since 1904 when it was owned by Lars Andersen, whose heritage listed

house remains in Ipswich Street, Esk. A railway siding was built in

1914 to serve this sawmill.

13.

The Police Station,

with one cell, stall & fodder

room was built in 1908. By

1959 a two cell lock-up was

provided for the "larrikin

types" and female prisoners..

This lock-up was removed

in 1993 to go on permanent

display at the Barcaldine

Workers Centre.

14.

The Toogoolawah Cemetery was opened in 1904. Much older

is the Apostolic Cemetery, where Mrs. Ernestine Grienke and her

newborn son were buried in 1884. Both here and in the Lutheran

Cemetery (1889) headstones in German celebrate the often harsh lives

of German settlers in the district.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

Caboonbah Homestead

Skydivers Inc, Ramblers Drop Zone

Watts Base Bridge Airfield & Museum

53 Abbotsford Street, Toogoolawah (previously Ivory Creek

Provisional then Fulham Primary School)

(All heritage photos courtesy of Mr. J. Crandell)

TOOGOOLAWAH

HERITAGE TRAIL