Goondiwindi

→←Goondiwindi is a town and a locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia.. In the, the town had a population of 5,629 people. The town has an annual population growth of 1.4 percent.The name Goondiwindi derives from an Aboriginal word with goondi indicating droppings or dung and windi indicating duck, probably connected with the roosting place on a large rock in the Mcintyre River. The name was believed to be first used for a pastoral run in the area.HistoryIn the late 1840s, squatters Richard Purvis Marshall and his brother Sampson Yeoval Marshall established the Gundi Windi pastoral station on the McIntyre River. They faced strong Aboriginal resistance for the first few years of their occupancy until Frederick Walker and the Native Police under his command arrived to crush most of the opposition in mid 1849. Richard Purvis Marshall became a Native Police officer in 1850 and was later appointed Commandant of the force in 1855.Gundiwindi Post Office opened by 1860. It was renamed Goondiwindi by 1861.Goondiwindi State School opened on 1 September 1864.Goondiwindi was first proclaimed a municipality on 20 October 1888. The town boundaries have not altered to this day, and before Federation the town served as a border crossing between Queensland and New South Wales. The customs house from that era is now a museum.Goondiwindi East Provisional School opened on 4 July 1898, becoming Goondiwindi East State School in 1909. The school closed about 1914, reopening again in 1920. It finally closed in 1947.