The district was originally known as Cressbrook after the Cressbrook Station operated by James Henry McConnel. The town took its present name Toogoolawah from its former railway station, which was named in November 1903 using the name Tugulawah proposed by McConnel, the name of the McConnel's residence at Bulimba, Brisbane (now known as Bulimba House).[2] McConnel had originally suggested the name Bakewell after a village in Derbyshire, for the new town and railway station, but the Queensland Railways Department wanted to use an Aboriginal name.[citation needed]
Toogoolawah is derived from the Aboriginal words "dhoo" (a generic term for tree) and "goo/lawa", meaning "crescent shaped" or "bent like a crescent moon". The name probably referred to a tree with a deformed trunk which stood on the site in Bulimba, rather than to the supposed shape outlined by the Brisbane River as it rounds Bulimba Point, as has been alleged.[citation needed]
History
Cressbrook Provisional School was operating in 1881 but closed in 1882 due to low student numbers; its opening date is unknown.[4][5]
What is now Toogoolawah town was surveyed privately when Cressbrook estate was subdivided and sold as dairy farms in 1904. The town plan was not registered with the survey office until 1 June 1909. The extension of the Brisbane Valley railway line from Esk to the new town (18.69 kilometres or 11.61 miles) was opened on 8 February 1904.
A Toogoolawah receiving office was opened in June 1904 and was elevated to post office status in July 1905.
Toogoolawah Provisional School opened on 30 May 1905. On 1 January 1909, it became Toogoolawah State School. A secondary department was added on 28 January 1975 until a separate high school opened on 25 January 1988.[5]
A condensed milk factory was built shortly after the railway station was opened. The factory was closed in 1929, after Nestlé moved all its condensed milk production to Victoria, resulting in the town's population decreasing by half.[8]
The Toogoolawah War Memorial commemorates those who served in World War I. Unlike most war memorials that were erected after the war, the Toogoolawah memorial was unveiled during the war on 31 March 1917 by the Rev. Chaplain Merrington.[9][10]
^"RELIGIOUS". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXIII, no. 15, 188. Queensland, Australia. 15 September 1906. p. 16. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BELOW THE RANGE". The Brisbane Courier. No. 16, 956. Queensland, Australia. 17 May 1912. p. 4. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^Blake, Thom. "Cornerstone Lutheran Church". Queensland religious places database. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
^Weiss, Johann Peter (1999), Short, general and statistical history of the Australian Lutheran Church : places, parishes, pastors, J.P. Weiss, pp. 157, 167, ISBN978-0-9586400-0-8