Botanic Gardens - Queens Park

Queen's Park Gardens - formerly known as the Botanical Gardens, the glasshouses have long since gone. A mecca for flower lovers, Queen's Park Gardens feature changing displays of annual plants in beds set against a lush backdrop of lawns, shrubs and towering trees. The gardens are situated at the corner of Campbell and Lindsay streets and are part of the 26.3 hectare Queen's Park complex.

Keen home gardeners - and those who simply delight in the beauty of seasonal flowers - find much to enjoy in the park throughout the year. The displays are particularly spectacular during the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, an annual event held in the last full week of September each year.

To coincide with this renowned spring time festival, the Council's gardeners spend countless hours planning and bringing to perfection superb floral presentations for the pleasure of visitors.

There's plenty to interest the history devotee as well as flower lovers in this beautiful setting. Near Campbell Street stands a 64-pound muzzle loading gun, believed to be one of two purchased by the Queensland Government around 1878 for shore defence purposes.

Its reason for being in Toowoomba is unclear, but the gun was certainly in place in 1916 when it was the cause of much consternation among the local citizenry. An official decision had been made to fire the cannon on the evening of April 25 for the anniversary of Anzac Day; enthusiastic loading resulted in a detonation which shook buildings for some distance around the park.

Facing Lindsay Street are two imposing granite columns donated to the city by the National Bank. Queen's Park Gardens are also home to a memorial raised in commemoration of Alfred Thomas, a construction engineer who worked on the first railway line to Toowoomba. The memorial has recently been restored.