page_title: Warwick, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Warwick, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Architectural plans of hospital, Warwick, 1888
context_page_description: Warwick is a town and locality in southeast Queensland, Australia, lying 130 kilometres south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Region local government area. The surrounding Darling Downs have fostered a strong agricultural industry for which Warwick, together with the larger city of Toowoomba, serve as convenient service centres. The town had an urban population of 15,380 as at June 2018, having declined slightly at an average annual rate of -0.15% year-on-year over the preceding five years.
context_section_description: The Githabal (also known as Gidabal, Kitabal) language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Southern Downs Regional Council, particularly Warwick, Killarney and Woodenbong extending into New South Wales.
  The Warwick Green Belt, on the banks of the Condamine River, features a sculpture of Tiddalik the mythical frog that drank all of the fresh water in a renowned Aboriginal Dreamtime story.
  Patrick Leslie and his two brothers originally settled in the area as squatters, naming their run Canning Downs. In 1847 the NSW government asked Leslie to select a site on his station for a township, which was to be called 'Cannington,' although the name 'Warwick' was eventually settled on. Land sales were held in 1850, and the first allotment was bought by Leslie.
  Warwick East State School opened on 4 November 1850. It is one of the oldest state primary schools in Queensland.
  In 1851 the first Presbyterian services were held in Warwick. Land was granted to build a Presbyterian church in 1857 and a slab church was built in 1858.
  The telegraph to Brisbane was operating by 1861.
  Warwick Central State School opened on 26 July 1865.
  Miss O'Mara opened a school on 27 January 1867 in the Oddfellows Hall.
  The 1870s were boom years for this new town. In 1871 the railway reached Warwick, a brewery was built in 1873, then a cooperative flour mill and brickworks were completed during 1874.
  On 29 October 1874, the Sisters of Mercy took over Miss O'Mara's school at the Oddfellows Hall renaming it St Mary's School.
  Warwick was the seat of a series of local government areas, the Borough of Warwick from 1861, Town of Warwick from 1903, City of Warwick from 1936, Shire of Warwick from 1994, and Southern Downs Region from 2008.
  In 1877, 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of land was resumed from the Canning Downs pastoral run to establish smaller farms. The land was offered for selection on 19 April 1877.
  In 1878 the Queensland Government raised a loan of £5,000 to build a new hospital in Warwick. However, it was not until September 1880 after considerable local agitation that the government called for tenders to build the hospital, resulting in a contract awarded to A.W. Doorey to build the hospital. However, by February 1881, tenders were being called for again, and in April 1881 the Queensland Government announced the hospital would not proceed. In June 1881, the government indicated that they would proceed if the local financial subscriptions to the hospital were increased. Tenders were called again in February 1882 resulting in a contract with Messrs Wallace and Gibson in March 1882. Finally on Thursday 19 June 1884, the patients were moved from the old hospital to the new hospital in Locke Street.
  In 1893, the Sisters of Mercy relocated their convent and St Mary's School to the newly-constructed Our Lady of the Assumption Convent in Locke Street.
  The T J Byrnes Monument (a statue of the 12th Queensland Premier Thomas Joseph Byrnes) was built on the corner of Palmerin and Grafton Streets. The monument was built from 1901 to 1902 and was officially unveiled on Saturday 13 December 1902 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Herbert Chermside. The unveiling of the monument was an important occasion for Warwick.
  Warwick State High School opened on 1 February 1912. It is one of the oldest state secondary schools in Queensland.
  St Mary's School also expanded, creating a secondary school called Assumption College in 1912, and in 1914 enlarging the convent to accommodate the growing secondary school.
  In 1917 the Presbyterian Girls College (PGC) opened in an existing house “Glenbrae”on over five acres in Locke Street, as a boarding and day school with 53 girls under headmistress Miss Constance Mackness (who retired in 1949, the longest serving headmistress of the school). The school was established by local families who did not want to have to send their daughters to Toowoomba for a Presbyterian education.
  On 29 November 1917, the Warwick Incident occurred, which would lead to the formation of the Australian Commonwealth Police wit
caption: Architectural plans of the "new" hospital in Locke Street, 1888
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