In the 2021 census, the locality of Chinchilla had a population of 7,068 people.[1]
Geography
The town is approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) west-northwest of Brisbane, 164 kilometres (102 mi) west-northwest of Toowoomba, 81.1 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Dalby, 188 kilometres (117 mi) east of Roma and 455.1 kilometres (283 mi) east of Charleville on the Warrego Highway.
The name Chinchilla is a corruption of the Aboriginal word "tintinchilla" or "jinchilla" indicating cypress pine, possibly recorded by explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt.[2]
British colonisation
British exploration through the region began in the 1840s, most notably with the 1844 expedition of Ludwig Leichhardt.[9] Leichhardt named Charleys Creek (upon which the modern town of Chinchilla is located) after Charley Fisher, a Wiradjuri man who accompanied Leichhardt's group.[10]
In 1847, British pastoralist squatter, Matthew Buscall Goggs, claimed around 37,000 acres of land along the Condamine River and Charleys Creek, calling his property Chinchilla. He fought a long war with the resident Baranggum people to take ownership. In 1849, with the help of military actions of Native Police units under Frederick Walker, Goggs was able to defeat and disperse most of the Baranggum resistance. In 1857, Goggs the sold Chinchilla property for £25,000 to the influential pastoralist and politician Gideon Lang.[9][11][12][13][14]
The town of Chinchilla was established in 1877. As the Western railway line was extended west across the Darling Downs from Toowoomba and Dalby, a temporary construction camp was established on the banks of Charley's Creek which developed into a town.[15]
Chinchilla Post Office opened on 3 January 1878.[16]
Civic infrastructure and schools
Chinchilla State School opened on 22 January 1883. A secondary department was opened in 1954, closing in 1963 when Chinchilla State High School opened.[17] The school celebrated its centenary in 1983.[18][19]
Mulga Provisional School opened circa 1896. On 1 January 1909, it became Mulga State School. Between 1914 and 1915, the school operated as a half-time school, sharing a single teacher with Hill Top Provisional School (later Boonarga State School). It closed in 1915 but reopened as the full-time Mulga State School in 1917. It closed circa 1943.[17]
In 1911, the Queensland Railway Department built a tramway from Chinchilla to Wongongera (now Barakula) to transport railway sleepers made from logs taken from the state forest at Barakula and milled at the Barakula sawmill. The route of the Barakula tramway was based on an earlier plan to construct a railway line from Chinchilla to Taroom that was subsequently abandoned in favour of a railway line from Miles to Taroom.[22][23] The tramway operated until 1970.[24] It was a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tramway.[25]
Speculation Provisional School opened in 1908 and closed circa 1915.[17]
Park View Provisional School opened circa 1910 and closed circa 1916.[17]
Fairy Meadow Road State School opened on 5 November 1915 and closed in 1919.[17]
Wilga Park Provisional School and Wombo Creek Provisional School both opened on 1916 as half-time schools (meaning they shared a single teacher). Wilga Park Provisional School closed in late 1917 or early 1918. It is not known if Wombo Creek Provisional School then also closed or operated on a full-time basis. From 9 July 1919 Wombo Creek Provisional School was operating on a half-time basis with the newly opened Gunbar Provisional School. Wombo Creek and Gunbar schools both closed circa 1925/6.[17]
Logyard Provisional School opened in 1918, closing circa 1919. Logyard State School opened circa 1941 and closed in 1959.[17]
Sixteen Mile Creek Provisional School opened on 5 February 1918 as a half-time provisional school (possibly in conjunction with Wombo Creek Provisional School). It closed on 1936.[17]
Gunbar Provisional School opened on 9 July 1919 as a half-time school in conjunction with Wombo Creek Provisional School. It closed circa 1925–1926.[17]
Colamba Provisional School opened on 14 October 1919. It closed in 1939.[17]
Cambey Provisional School opened in 1922. It closed circa 1935.[17]
Unity Provisional School opened on 16 November 1922. It closed in 1931.[17]
St Joseph's Catholic School was officially opened by ArchbishopJames Duhig on 27 January 1923, with the school commencing operation on 29 January 1923.[27] It was established by three Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart with an initial enrolment of 63 students. Since 1992 the school has operated under lay leadership.[17][18][28][29]
The town saw a resurgence after the defeat of the prickly pear.[30] Experimental work took place in the town to assess the success of the Cactoblastis cactorum moths in the eradication of the pest. In 1926, the first moth was released and by 1933 most of the affected land had been cleared of prickly pears.[31]
Oak Park State School opened on 13 February 1946. It closed in 1962.[17]
Wambo Creek State School opened on 2 April 1946. It closed in 1961.[17]
Chinchilla State High School opened on 29 January 1963, replacing the secondary department at Chinchilla State School.[17][18]
Chinchilla Christian School opened 1 January 1983.[17][18] It was established by a group of local Christian parents. In 2014 it was renamed Chinchilla Christian College and in 2015 it joined the Christian Community Ministries network.[32]
The Warwick Public Library opened in 1999 with a major refurbishment in 2012 and a minor refurbishment in 2016.[33]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.8% of the population.
80.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was New Zealand at 1.6%.
84.5% of people spoke only English at home.
The most common responses for religion were Catholic 20.1%, Anglican 20.1% and No Religion 18.7%.
In 2018, Chinchilla won a national competition run by Wotif to create the Next Big Thing as a new tourist attraction. The 8-metre (26 ft) long Big Melon was installed next to the town's information centre in November 2018.[34]
Demographics
In the 2016 census, the locality of Chinchilla had a population of 6,612 people.[35]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Chinchilla had a population of 7,068 people.[1]
Heritage listings
Chinchilla has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Agriculture is the mainstay of the community, with beef and pork production, wool growing, and horticulture traditionally underwriting the local economy. However, with the recent resources boom, the Kogan Creek Power Station (and other coal and gas projects) have begun to inject welcome cash into the town and Chinchilla is experiencing mass growth and development. House prices in Chinchilla have boomed as a result of the need to house new workers.[38]
The Western Downs Green Power Hub commenced construction in the Chinchilla region in July 2020. The project is located approx 20km south-east of Chinchilla in the Western Downs Region, in close proximity to a transmission line and less than 6kms from Queensland Powerlink's Western Downs Sub-station. Once operational, it is expected to be one of Australia's largest solar farms.[39][40]
Chinchilla has a Cultural Centre, which includes a 700-seat auditorium, cinema and function room, outdoor patio, theatrette, plus bar and kitchen facilities. Also included in the complex are the White Gums Art Gallery and the Library.[citation needed]
The Cultural Centre also houses a cinema showing recently released movies.[50]
Chinchilla White Gums Art Gallery houses a new display every month.[citation needed]
Chinchilla Botanic Parkland, which is one of five locations in Australia to hold the 2022/2023 Green Flag Award, an international accreditation given to the world's best green spaces.[56]
Sport
Chinchilla has a range of sports facilities and a variety of sports clubs. Chinchilla Aquatic Centre houses an indoor 25m heated pool, an outdoor 50m pool and a gymnasium. The Chinchilla Family Sports Centre provides facilities for many sports and clubs. There are also clubs and facilities for soccer (Chinchilla Bears,) touch football, rugby league, cricket, tennis, squash, motocross, gymnastics, indoor netball, taekwondo, football and lawn bowls. A fishing club, Pony Club, and shooting range also operate in the area. In addition, there are Polocrosse grounds, a race track, and 9 hole golf course. A Multipurpose Sports Centre Stadium is currently being developed.[57]
Media
Rebel FM 97.1 (formerly Sun FM) was Chinchilla's first commercial FM radio station. Rebel FM has a new rock & classic rock music format. Rebel FM's sister station, The Breeze broadcasts on 95.5 FM with an easy adult contemporary & classic hits format. Both stations are part of the Gold Coast-based Rebel Media Group which operates a radio network that reaches the Gold Coast and South Brisbane to many centres throughout regional and outback Queensland.[citation needed]
Chinchilla is one of the towns located on the Warrego Highway, which is a main highway leading out west to Charleville, and a popular tourist route. The mainstays of Chinchilla's tourism industry are the Historical Museum, fishing and fossicking for petrified wood. 'Chinchilla Red' petrified wood is unique to the area, and known for its colour and quality.[60] The Chinchilla White Gum (Eucalyptus argophloia) is also unique to the area, and can be seen on some of the tourist drives which are marked around the region.[citation needed]
The Chinchilla Grandfather Clock Campdraft is a major event held every October, where entrants compete for the Grandfather Clock prize. Chinchilla also hosts horse races four times a year.[61]
Chinchilla Melon Festival
As Chinchilla produces 25% of Australia's melons (including watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew),[49] the first Chinchilla Melon Festival [1] was held in 1994 by local producers and businessmen, to lift the town's spirits after the severe drought experienced in the early 1990s. Estimated numbers at the first Festival were approximately 2,500 which grew to an estimate that there were 10,000 visitors on the main day of the 2011 festival.[62]
In 2009, the Melon Festival won the Queensland Regional Achievement and Community Award for Tourism Event.[63]
The Festival features interactive and unique events, such as Melon Skiing, Melon Bungee, Melon Bullseye, Melon Ironman, Melon Chariot, a pip spitting competition, and melon eating races. A special event held in 2009 saw John Allwood secure the Guinness World Record of Melon Head Smashing - cracking open as many watermelons as possible using only the head. Currently his record is 47 melons in a minute.[64]
Greyhound Australia operates bus services daily between Brisbane and Miles via Chinchilla.[65] and also operates 2-3 daily bus services between Brisbane and Mount Isa via Longreach and Charleville, and three buses a week between Toowoomba and Rockhampton, along the Dawson Highway.[66] Murrays Coaches also operates a daily service to and from Brisbane.[citation needed]
The Westlander train also comes through Chinchilla twice a week, on its way between Brisbane and Charleville. The westbound service (3S86) stops at Chinchilla at 2:35am Wednesdays and Fridays. The eastbound service (3987) stops at Chinchilla at 3:15am Thursdays and Saturdays.
As it is a small town, there is no public transport (besides a taxi), although many coal and gas companies run contracted buses out to their sites.[citation needed]
^"Back to the Thirties". Northern Star. Vol. 37. New South Wales, Australia. 13 February 1913. p. 8. Retrieved 5 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"MORETON BAY". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. IV, no. 673. Victoria, Australia. 21 July 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 5 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Chinchilla". Queensland places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
^Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
^"Railway Development". The Brisbane Courier. No. 16, 643. Queensland, Australia. 16 May 1911. p. 5. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Downs Railways". Darling Downs Gazette. Vol. LIV, no. 9853. Queensland, Australia. 16 September 1911. p. 5. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^Houghton, Norman (June 2008). "Queensland Rail Tales"(PDF). Australian Forest History Society Inc. Newsletter (49): 8. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
^"Farm Work". The Brisbane Courier. No. 20, 287. Queensland, Australia. 29 January 1923. p. 11. Retrieved 11 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.