Toowoomba (pop. 108,398) is a city in Queensland, Australia. It stands on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, about 2,000 feet (610 meters) above sea level and 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Brisbane. Toowoomba is a distributing center for the Darling Downs area, which is noted particularly for wheat, beef, wool, and dairy products.
Toowoomba has a large number of thriving industries. A malt factory treats the high-quality barley of the area. The resulting products are exported. The city also has large engineering workshops for manufacturing diesel engines and machinery. In addition, it has flour mills, sawmills, clothing factories, a furniture factory, several joinery works, and brickworks. Other industries include butter and cheese making, pecan nut processing, and leather tanning.
Toowoomba is a well-designed city with wide streets and beautiful gardens. It is widely known as the Garden City of Queensland because of its fine public gardens and treelined streets. Thousands of visitors from many parts of Queensland visit Toowoomba each year during its Carnival of Flowers, which takes place in the spring.
The origin of the name Toowoomba is uncertain. It may have come from Tchwampa—an Aboriginal corruption of The Swamp, which was the original name for the village that grew up in a marshy area in the 1850’s. Another explanation is that the name came from toowoon or choowoon—meaning the native melon that grows in the swamp. The name could also have come from Toowoomba, meaning underground water. Toowoomba was proclaimed a town in 1860 and became a city in 1904.
