First Town Hall building, Toowoomba, ca. 1870
Creator: Unidentified.
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland.
Description: The Indigenous tribes of the Jagera, Giabal and Jarowair people inhabited the Darling Downs for at least 40,000 years before European settlement. Estimations place the Indigenous population pre-settlement from 1500 to 2500 people. The Jagera people were of the foothills and escarpment, Giabal were of the Toowoomba area and the Jarowair were of the northern areas towards and including the Bunya Mountains.
No one is entirely sure what "toowoomba" meant in the language of the local Barumggam people. It has been argued that 'toowoomba' means either 'the swamp'; a variety of melon which grows on the banks of the swamp; or the reeds on the edge of the swamp. This confusion is caused because some experts argue that the name is a corruption of 'tchwampa' - the swamp. Others say it is derived from 'choowoom' meaning native melon and others claim it comes from 'woomba woomba' meaning 'reeds in the swamp'.
View the original image at the State Library of Queensland: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/86957.
Information about State Library of Queensland’s collection: www.slq.qld.gov.au/research-collections.
You are free to use this image without permission. Please attribute State Library of Queensland.
First Town Hall building, Toowoomba, ca. 1870
Creator: Unidentified.
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland.
Description: The Indigenous tribes of the Jagera, Giabal and Jarowair people inhabited the Darling Downs for at least 40,000 years before European settlement. Estimations place the Indigenous population pre-settlement from 1500 to 2500 people. The Jagera people were of the foothills and escarpment, Giabal were of the Toowoomba area and the Jarowair were of the northern areas towards and including the Bunya Mountains.
No one is entirely sure what "toowoomba" meant in the language of the local Barumggam people. It has been argued that 'toowoomba' means either 'the swamp'; a variety of melon which grows on the banks of the swamp; or the reeds on the edge of the swamp. This confusion is caused because some experts argue that the name is a corruption of 'tchwampa' - the swamp. Others say it is derived from 'choowoom' meaning native melon and others claim it comes from 'woomba woomba' meaning 'reeds in the swamp'.
View the original image at the State Library of Queensland: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/86957.
Information about State Library of Queensland’s collection: www.slq.qld.gov.au/research-collections.
You are free to use this image without permission. Please attribute State Library of Queensland.