Black Gully (1840s-1914)
Black Gully in Toowoomba today is a reserve as ‘open space’ under the Toowoomba Regional Council’s planning scheme. The reserve extends from the Tor-Bridge Streets corner in a north-easterly direction to the Mort-North Streets corner. The gully actually extends further west than the reserve suggests, as a casual drive around the area will reveal. The western watershed of the gully extends from upper Richmond Drive area past the Wilsonton shopping centre south through the airport to the racecourse. Some of this western area is reserved as sporting grounds, as the area would be extremely wet in prolonged rainy periods. The Black Gully catchment encompasses about 1200 acres or 500 ha.
Black Gully is an area with a past. Black Gully’s past is as a farming, industrial and residential area, and all this has been substantially lost as it is no longer recognised as a proper address. In addition, there are no longer any of the industries which once were located there because it was ‘outside’ Toowoomba and had a reliable and copious water supply with a good fall built in to provide energy.
Apart from farming which was established early in the Gully’s post-European history, early industries were fellmongering, tanneries and a wool scour. These were joined in time by malthouses, a brewery, a bacon factory, saleyards, a foundry, several flour mills, and a soap works. The book gives extensive histories of all these industries and firms located there.
In time, the large portions of land in the watershed were subdivided into suburban blocks for closer settlement. More than a dozen such estates are named, and brief histories of their owners and developers given.
This book contains more than 550 names of individuals, firms and places, and is an ideal reference work for family historians.
A4
© February 2016, Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society Inc.
Published by
Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society Inc.
452 South St
Toowoomba Queensland 4350
email: tddfhs@westnet.com.au
www. tddfhs.org.au
Includes index, illustrations and photographs.
ISBN 978-1-920776-24-4
Book $15.00 Postage $9.40
