Toowoomba’s Heritage

G’day mates! Well, everyone knows that Toowoomba isn’t the most exciting place to live, especially compared to the major cities in Australia, such as Sydney and Melbourne, or even Brisbane. However, the fact is, for the short period of time I spent living there (yes, I lived there for two months for work reason), I just realized how gorgeous is its Architectural heritage.

Located 130 Km away from Brisbane, being home of only around 150.000 inhabitants, it lived its golden age related to Agriculture and Dairying economies in the 1900s. However, Toowoomba’s colonial history traces back to 1816 when English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham arrived in Australia from Brazil (yes, from Brazil!). In June 1827 he discovered 4 million acres of rich farming and grazing land, which became known as the Darling Downs. That’s when everything started, off course after the Europeans got there, considering Aboriginal people already inhabited that area for thousands of years but that’s another story.

As observed everywhere around the world, the same happened in Brazil in the colonial cities such as Ouro Preto and Lençóis, economy quite often lifts up Architecture industry. The money generated from dynamic economical activities and trades usually goes straight into buildings and new constructions, producing the most beautiful architectural pieces humankind can create. It wasn’t different at all in this town located in the South East region of Queensland with very dry weather, but at 691m above sea level.

Toowoomba’s Trade Hall (1919-1930’s)

White Horse Hotel (1900 – 1914)

Most of the iconic buildings were built on the first half of the twentieth century and present a mix of classic elements revealing both predominant styles by the time: Neoclassicism and Eclecticism, as enlisted by the Wikipedia website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sites_on_the_Queensland_Heritage_Register_in_Toowoomba. There is also another list found on: https://www.toowoomba.org/articles/10-history/131-toowoomba-heritage-listed-sites.html

Toowoomba Technical College (1900 – 1914)

Toowoomba also hosts the very famous Carnival of Flowers, which happens every September, and celebrates spring time. (More info available on: https://www.tcof.com.au/). It is definitely a place to visit and be enchanted with such rich Architectural Heritage and also its beautiful and colorful landscape.

Sunset in Toowoomba City

*All the images in this post belongs to the writer´s personal gallery and correspond to intellectual property, otherwise as noted.