This is What You WEREN'T Taught about Toowoomba's History!

In this documentary I explore the first 50 years of Toowoomba's history.

#walkaboutwithrob #toowoomba #queenslandhistory

How did Toowoomba gets its name? According to the Toowoomba Region website, there are 8 different ideas. And I’ll throw in a 9th

Theory 1
When Toowoomba was first discovered, it was known as the ‘Drayton Swamp’ and was often referred to as ‘The Swamp.’ It is believed that Aborigines trying to say ‘The Swamp’ pronounced a word sounding like ‘Tawampa’, which easily becomes Toowoomba.

Theory 2
A second version features a letter to the Toowoomba City Council from Steele Rudd claiming that his father had told him that in 1848 he first saw Toowoomba and in 1849, attached to J C Burnett, he assisted to lay it out. He believed that it was derived from the Aboriginal name of ‘Toogoom’ because of the reeds that grew here.

Theory 3
A third version and a widely accepted theory of the use of Toowoomba's name comes from Mrs Alford, wife of James Alford, one of the first businessmen in both Drayton and Toowoomba. It is believed that Mrs Alford asked the local Indigenous people what they called the area. They replied 'Woomba Woomba' meaning 'the springs and the water underneath.' The Alford's realised that two woombas would not be a suitable name for their house and store but by using TOO which is also a type of plural it would become Toowoomba.

Theory 4
In 1875 W H Groom wrote an account of Toowoomba, stating the name 'Toowoomba' derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'great in the future' however, he gave no source to this information.

Theory 5
The fifth theory came from a botanist by the name of Archibald Meston. In 1895 Meston wrote a book titled “A Geographical History of Queensland,” which included his explanation of the name “Toowoomba”. “Toowoom” or “Choowom” was the local Indigenous peoples’ name for a small native melon (Cucumus pubescens) which grew plentifully on the site of the township. The terminal “ba” is equal to the adverb “There,” so the whole word means “melons there,” and to an Aborigine, it meant “the place where the melon grows”. This melon still exists and can be found growing in the Balonne and Warrego areas as well as areas closer to Toowoomba however there is no evidence that the melons grew in or near the Toowoomba swamps.

Theory 6
The sixth version came from a man called Enoggera Charlie who wrote his story in the Sydney Morning Herald. He claimed when he was looking for work as a tar boy, he had camped overnight near the Toowoomba Swamp. Questioning an old shepherd sage of the naming of the Toowoomba Swamp, he was informed that near the junction of the East and West Swamp there was a log with the inscription informing tramps the way to a well-known homestead where there was a certainty to rations. The inscription read 'To Woombrah.’

Theory 7
At around the same time that Enoggera Charlie wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald another man by the name of Ardlaw Lawrence put forward his theory. He suggested that the name Toowoomba may be an Anglicised version of the 'Boowoomga' which meant 'thunder' in the dialect of the Upper Burnett and Gayndah tribes. However he could give no reason for the name being transferred to the Darling Downs.

Theory 8
Writing in a pamphlet in 1899, George Essex Evans wrote that the name Toowoomba meant 'meeting of the waters' however this was again written without authentication.
There are many theories regarding the naming of Toowoomba. In the final analysis though, Toowoomba became "Toowoomba" regardless of which theory is correct.

And there’s another:
A Mr T Allen, who identified himself as an “old pioneer’ of the district, stated in the Darling Downs Gazette of 24th of July, 1909 that the name Toowoomba “that was the native name by the blacks, meaning, 'where the waters rise,' as at that time there was very little water in Toowoomba”.