Robert Aland, Toowoomba’s Mayor in 1874 and 1875, was an ironmonger and storekeeper who had premises in Ruthven Street.

His store was on the northern side of Ruthven Street near where the main branch of the Commonwealth Bank now stands.

Related to former Dalby Mayor Mr Richard Aland, Robert Aland was involved with progressive movements for the advancement of Toowoomba, among them the push for a permanent water supply.

Read more...

Henry King Alford, born on July 22, 1852, was elected Mayor of Toowoomba in 1911 and 1912..

His christening on August 29, 1852, is of historical importance for Toowoomba. Not only was the christening conducted at the first Church of England service held in Toowoomba, but it was also the first time the name “Toowoomba” was written on a public document.

Read more...

James Douglas Annand was Toowoomba’s longest serving Mayor, having held the position a total of 22 years between 1924 and 1952.

He was elected Mayor from 1924 to 1930, 1933 to 1949 and from June to August 1952. James Annand won the first election he stood for in April 1921.

That year, the franchise was changed so that the candidate who topped the poll was automatically elected Mayor. At the next election in April 1924, he was elected to the highest municipal office in Toowoomba.

(The franchise was altered again in 1933 to provide for a separate candidature for the office of Mayor.)

Read more...

Former Toowoomba Mayor John Atkinson at one time held the title of Queensland wrestling champion.

He was elected Mayor in 1913 and a Toowoomba City Council alderman in 1907 and from 1910 to 1912.

A native of England, John Atkinson was born at Cumberland in England and came to Australia as a young manin 1878.

Read more...

Toowoomba’s 43rd Mayor, Mr M J R Anderson, was actively involved in community affairs for much of his life.

Popularly known as 'Curly', he was Mayor of the city from 1952 to 1958 and in addition, served as the Member for Toowoomba East in the Queensland Parliament from 1957 until 1966.

Mr Anderson was elected to the City Council in May 1952 and appointed Deputy Mayor in August 1952 following the resignation from that position of Mr E E Gold. In October that year, he convincingly won the Mayoral election by about 5000 votes.

Read more...

The article that appeared in this series yesterday referred to Bernard J Beirne senior, and not to his son Bernard J. Beirne, Mayor of Toowoomba in 1905.

Mr Beirne Snr. although a distinguished citizen of Toowoomba from the 1870’s until his death in 1920, was never a Mayor of Toowoomba. The following article corrects the misinformation supplied about Mr Beirne junior.

Bernard Joseph Beirne was just 33 years of age when elected the first native-born Mayor of Toowoomba in 1905.

Read more...

Millionaire businessman and property developer, Clive Berghofer, was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Toowoomba.

He attended school at Cambooya and later Wellcamp where his parents had a dairy farm. He began his working life in a sawmill at Wellcamp when he was 13, then  later moved to another sawmill near Millmerran.

After National Service in the Army he took a job as a carpenter’s labourer at Oakey.

Read more...

David Boland was the third Darling Downs born resident to be elected Mayor of Toowoomba.

E J Godsall, Mayor in 1906, was the first native-born citizen to be elected to the position and H K Alford, Mayor in 1911, was the second.

The third generation of the Boland family to be a Downs Mayor, David Boland was unanimously elected to Council’s highest municipal office on February 2, 1914.

Read more...

Edmund Boland was a successful butcher in Toowoomba when elected Mayor in 1889.

Born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1840, he was educated at Kilrush School. He came to Queensland with his family in 1854and for nine years worked as an overseer for James Taylor.

His father, John E Boland was for many years one of the most respected citizens in Drayton, and when that town was a municipality, was its Mayor twice.

Read more...

Tony Bourke was born July 30, 1941 in Brisbane and educated at St. Patrick's Christian Brothers.

He graduated from the University of Queensland as a pharmacist in 1958. He worked in London from 1966-1969 and purchased a pharmacy in Margaret Street Toowoomba in 1970.

Mr Bourke was married in 1970 and has 3  children.

Read more...

Thomas Burstow holds a special place in Toowoomba’s history.

As the person instrumental in gaining city status for Toowoomba, he was the first Mayor to wear the robes of that office.

Toowoomba was proclaimed a city in 1904, the year that Thomas Burstow was elected to his first 12-month term as Mayor. He was also elected Mayor in 1907 and 1919.

Thomas Stephen Burstow, the son of a furniture manufacturer and merchant, was born in London in February 1858.

Read more...

A butcher and dairy farmer by occupation, Charles Campbell served on both the Toowoomba and Jondaryan Shire Councils.

The brother of James Campbell, Toowoomba Mayor in 1882, Charles was instrumental in the subdivision, which resulted in the creation of Pittsworth Shire in 1913.

He was elected Mayor of Toowoomba in 1886 and an alderman in 1887, 1888 and 1889.

Read more...

James Campbell was the first of two brothers to be elected Mayor of Toowoomba during the 1880s. James Campbell was elected Mayor in 1882, and his brother Charles in 1886.

According to Toowoomba historian, the late Mr Ron Douglas, James was one of the partners of J, C and W Campbell, butchers of Ruthven Street.

Read more...

Three streets on the western side of Toowoomba – Gilbert, Gostwyck and Cory streets – are among the monuments named in honour of the city’s 19th Mayor.

Gilbert Gostwyck Cory, elected to the position in 1891, is probably best remembered for his “pioneering” work with the Toowoomba Turf Club and the Royal Agricultural Society.

However, he was also associated withy the Jondaryan Shire Council and was its chairman in 1894 and 1895.

Read more...

Jack Duggan was born December 30, 1910 at Maree, South Australia. Orphaned in 1921, he came to Toowoomba in 1922 to join his brothers and sisters.

He began his political career when he became Secretary of the Toowoomba Trades and Labour Council at 21. He was elected Toowoomba Branch president of the Australian Labor Party at 22.

He married in 1935 and had 2 children.

Read more...

The death of former Mayor John Fogarty on September 9, 1904, was viewed with great sadness by Toowoomba residents. Hundreds of people lined Ruthven Street in what was then described as the largest funeral procession ever seen in Toowoomba.

John Fogarty was 41 years of age when elected Mayor of Toowoomba in 1887.

Born at Tipperary, Ireland, in 1848, he was two years old when he came to Australia with his family on the sailing ship “Emigrant”.

Read more...

John Garget was one of several builders elected Mayor of Toowoomba during the latter half of the 19th century. Mayor from 1876 to 1878 and in 1885. John Garget was almost continuously on Council between 1874 and 1890.

He was awarded contracts to build many of Toowoomba’s early buildings.

Among them are the Toowoomba Grammar School, considered to be one of the city’s finest examples of domestic Gothic architecture. The school was officially opened in 1875.

Read more...

Alfred Godsall was the third member of a distinguished Toowoomba family to hold the position of Mayor of the city.

His father, Richard Godsall, was Mayor in 1872 and 1879, and his brother Edwin, was elected Mayor in 1906.

Alfred Godsall held the position from 1920 to 1924 and served as an alderman in 1916, 1918, 1919 and from 1926 to 1932.

Alfred Richard Godsall was born in Toowoomba in 1873 and at first carried on his father’s profession as a builder. Later, he worked as an engineer on gold and oil fields in the United States and was in Germany at the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.

Read more...

Edwin John Godsall was the second native-born Mayor of Toowoomba and the first whose father had also been Mayor.

Born on September 30, 1871, Edwin Godsall was educated in Toowoomba at the South State School and Toowoomba Grammar School.

After leaving the Grammar School in 1888, he was employed at the Toowoomba branch of the Union Bank.

He left the bank in 1898 and joined the stock, station and commission agency of Gregory and Scholefield following the death of Mr Gregory.

Read more...

Richard Godsall, Mayor of Toowoomba in 1872 and 1879, was responsible for the construction of many of the city’s early buildings.

Richard Godsall was elected as a council alderman from 1867 to 1871 and between 1873 and 1880.

He was the contractor for Toowoomba’s railway station, and city’s second. Opened in 1874, it is probably the oldest public building remaining in Toowoomba.

Read more...