Laidley, Queensland

Laidley is a town situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland, Australia. The township had a population of 3,518 in 2011 and lies 83km west of Brisbane, the state capital.The local industry has been dominated by agriculture since the end of the 19th century. Laidley has long regarded itself as "Queensland's Country Garden". Fruit and vegetable production features prominently, with the majority of beetroot grown in Australia coming from the Laidley district.HistoryAllan Cunningham first explored the area in 1829. Cunningham named it Laidley's Plain after the Deputy Commissary General of the colony of New South Wales. The town developed around a wagon stop on the main road route between Ipswich and Toowoomba. A stop was needed after the climb over the small Little Liverpool Range west of Marburg.By the 1850s the area was being cleared for sheep grazing. A survey for the growing village was conducted in 1858. Laidley Post Office opened on 1 February 1861. A Laidley Creek West Post Office was open from 1927 until 1955 (a receiving office had been open from 1899). A Laidley Rail Post Office opened in 1915 and closed in 1925. In the mid-1870s the railway line from Grandchester stopped at a railway station 1.5km north of the town. Between 1911 and 1955, a branch railway line ran from Laidley along the Laidley Creek to the settlement at Mulgowie. The town was the centre of the Shire of Laidley, a former local government area.