Toowoomba

Toowoomba (nicknamed 'The Garden City') is a city in the Darling Downs region in the Australian state of Queensland. It is located 125 km (78 mi) west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The estimated urban population of Toowoomba as of June 2015 was 114,622. A university and cathedral city, it hosts the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers each September and national championship events for the sports of mountain biking and motocross. There are more than 150 public parks and gardens in Toowoomba. It has developed into a regional centre for business and government services. It is also referred to as the capital of the Darling Downs.

It is the 16th-largest city in Australia and the sixth-largest in Queensland after Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Townsville and Cairns. Toowoomba is the most populous inland city in the country after the national capital of Canberra.

History

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, which became known as the Darling Downs, bordered on the east by the Great Dividing Range and situated 100 miles (160 km) west of the settlement of Moreton Bay. Thirteen 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. Land for the town was first surveyed in 1849, then again in 1853.

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 true founder of Toowoomba, despite the fact that 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 the wish of locals 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. The railway from Ipswich was opened in 1867, bringing with it business development. 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. Pastoralism replaced agriculture and dairying by the 1900s.

Toowoomba was named as Australia's Tidiest Town in 2008.

Geography

Toowoomba is situated 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 most 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 (1,900 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).

The rich volcanic soil in the region helps maintain the 150 public parks that are scattered across the city. Jacaranda, camphor laurel and plane 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.

Suburbs

The City of Toowoomba included the following settlements:

• Blue Mountain Heights1
• Centenary Heights
• Cotswold Hills2
• Cranley
• Darling Heights
• Drayton
• East Toowoomba
• Glenvale2
• Harlaxton

• Harristown
• Kearneys Spring
• Middle Ridge
• Mount Kynoch
• Mount Lofty
• Newtown
• North Toowoomba
• Prince Henry Heights

• Rangeville
• Redwood
• Rockville
• South Toowoomba
• Toowoomba City
• Torrington2
• Wilsonton
• Wilsonton Heights

1 - split with the former Shire of Crows Nest
2 - split with the former Shire of Jondaryan

Architecture and heritage

Toowoomba's history has been preserved in its buildings. Examples of architecture drawing from the city's wealthy beginnings include Toowoomba City Hall which was Queensland's first purpose-built town 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 1930s. 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 approximately 1,500 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. The museum has undergone a A$8 million redevelopment before reopening in September 2010.

Heritage listings

Toowoomba has many heritage-listed sites, with over fifty on the Queensland Heritage Register in addition to listings on other local heritage registers.

Culture

Festivals

Toowoomba is nationally renowned for the annual Carnival of Flowers, held each year in September. Many of the city's major parks and gardens are especially prepared for the carnival, including an important home garden competition and parade of flower floats. Buses bring people from around the nation, and a popular way to arrive at the carnival from Brisbane is on chartered antique steam and diesel trains, which captures the yester-year aspect of travel to Toowoomba with 19th-century wooden carriages.

In 1953 the Carnival of Flowers was the subject of a sponsored film produced by the Queensland Minister for Lands and Irrigation. The Carnival of Flowers depicts the floral parade, the home gardens competition and the crowning of the Floral Queen and is a wonderful portrait of life in 1950s Queensland.

Toowoomba was previously home to Easterfest (which was held annually over the Easter weekend.) The event has not continued after 2015.

Food

Toowoomba is well served by a selection of restaurants, cafés and eateries throughout the city. Toowoomba also is home to the Weis Bar and possibly the Lamington. The urban laneway cafe trend of Melbourne, is also growing increasing popular in the city with the opening of laneway cafe's such as GroundUp Espresso and Bunker Records.

Religion and fundamentalist Christianity in Toowoomba

All major world religions and Christian denominations are represented in Toowoomba, however it has long been known as a bastion of ultra-conservative Christianity.

The city is regarded as fertile ground for fundamentalist political right-wing movements that adhere to biblical literalism, particularly those within the Pentecostal stream of Christianity. This was exemplified by the highly publicised rise and subsequent fall of Howard Carter and the Logos Foundation in the 1980s. The Logos Foundation and other similar movements that have followed it, operate in a controlling, authoritarian and almost cultish manner, contributing to their notoriety. Other similarly conservative Pentecostal churches within the city have, since that time, banded together into a loose federation known as the Toowoomba Christian Leaders' Network. (note - most traditional church denominations have their own, separate ecumenical group) This network, views itself as having a divine mission to 'take the city for the Lord' and as such, endorses elements of religious right-wing political advocacy, such as the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL). ACL's current managing director who was raised in the Logos Foundation and is a former Toowoomba City councilor, is Lyle Shelton. These church groups are strongly associated with North American trends such as the New Apostolic Reformation, Dominion theology, Five-fold ministry thinking, Kingdom Now theology and revivalism. They support the achievement of a type of theocratic society where conservative and literal interpretations of the bible are the dominant drivers of government, education, the Arts, the media and entertainment. Churches involved in this group currently include the successor organization to the Logos Foundation, the Toowoomba City Church, along with the Range Christian Fellowship, Metro Spring Street Assembly of God, Christian Outreach Centre, Hume Ridge Church of Christ, Revival Ministries of Australia Shiloh Centre, Victory Life Toowoomba and many others.

Another conservative church group, the Toowoomba Christian Fellowship, has in recent times attracted publicity for the cult-like manner in which it operates. It will possibly become one of the largest mega-churches in Australia.

The Range Christian Fellowship, originally formed with 300 adherents in 1997 as a protest to the acceptance of homosexuality, has become known for bizarre manifestations and phenomena associated with the Toronto blessing and the North American movements mentioned above. This has included squealing, holy laughter, an inability to stand or sit, retching as though experiencing child-birth, moments of religious ecstasy and emotional euphoria, uttering apocalyptic prophecies and the use of textile banners that are believed to have special powers emanating from divinely inspired designs. Some former adherents of this church, who have regarded themselves as spiritually elite, have at times displayed cultish tendencies. Like other similar churches in Toowoomba, the Range Christian Fellowship became strongly influenced by end-times conspiracy prophecies associated with Y2K, when members of this church purchased generators, engaged in significant food hoarding, took lessons in self-sufficiency and planned for a total collapse of modern society. In the period following this, some church members displayed obsessive and highly superstitious behavior in regard to the Prayer of Jabez doctrine. There have been a number of schisms resulting in former followers starting new independent churches, house churches or other religious organizations, all of which have retained similar elements of notoriety.

Revival Ministries of Australia Shiloh Centre in 19 Russel Street, has a sole focus on the concept of revivalism, founded on precepts of spiritual warfare Christianity and a belief in a providential purpose for the city of Toowoomba as a hub of religious revival. This church was formed following a schism with the Range Christian Fellowship and has carried with it some, but not all, of the bizarre manifestations of religious ecstasy associated with that congregation. Many of its members were religiously active during the years roughly covering 1989 through till the late 1990s, as part of the now defunct Rangeville Uniting Church Toowoomba, where they, along with other local Pentecostal church leaders and their followers, engaged in significant strategic-level Spiritual Warfare. They still claim that through this action they took control of the demonic Territorial Spirits (evil spirits) that were making the city both sinful and resistant to the gospel message. Following this, it was expected and predicted (at times through prophecies) that a great revival of Christian faith including thousands of new conversions would follow, in addition to a reduced crime rate, phenomenal church growth, improved morality, general prosperity among the population and the installation of men and women of God into government. There were further claims that this action had placed Toowoomba strategically to be a hub of the anticipated great Australian revival. This expectation of a citywide transformation failed to materialize and was based on the teaching of North American Christian-mystic preacher George Otis, whose claims of great transformations in several South American locations are now regarded as false, as they have been unable to be verified when investigated by his critics.