Toogoolawah

Toogoolawah is a small town in South East Queensland, Australia. Toogoolawah is a centre for gliding and parachuting and in the past the centre of a dairying industry. Cressbrook Creek, a tributary of the Brisbane River, passes through the town as does the Brisbane Valley Highway. At the, Toogoolawah had a population of 1,162.The town is located in the Somerset Region local government area. There are three pubs in Toogoolawah, all situated on the main road.NamingToogoolawah is derived from the Aboriginal words "dhoo" and "goo/lawa", meaning "crescent shaped" or "bent like a crescent moon". The name probably referred to a tree with a deformed trunk which stood on the site in Bulimba, rather than to the supposed shape outlined by the Brisbane River as it rounds Bulimba Point, as has been alleged.HistoryWhat is now Toogoolawah township was surveyed privately when Cressbrook estate was subdivided and sold as dairy farms in 1904. The town plan was not registered with the survey office until 1 June 1909. The extension of the Brisbane Valley railway line from Esk to the new town (18.69km) was opened on 8 February 1904. James Henry McConnel, owner of Cresbrook station, suggested the name Bakewell after a village in Derbyshire, for the new town and railway station. The Railways Department however favoured the use of Aboriginal names, so McConnel then suggested Toogoolawah, the Aborigines' name for the locality in the Brisbane suburb of Bulimba where McConnel's town house was situated.