Laidley, Queensland

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Laidley
state = qld


caption =
lga = Lockyer Valley Regional Council
postcode = 4341
pop = 2,858 (2006)
pop_footnotes = [Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC36509|name=Laidley (Laidley Shire) (State Suburb)|quick=on|accessdate=2008-02-28]
area =
dist1 = 83
location1= Brisbane
dist2 = 47
location2= Ipswich
fedgov = Blair
stategov = Electoral district of Lockyer
near-nw = Laidley Heights
near-n = Plainland
near-ne = Hatton Vale
near-w = Laidley Heights
near-e = Grandchester
near-sw = Laidley South
near-s = Laidley South
near-se = Grandchester

Laidley is a town (pop. 2,858) situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland, Australia. The township lies 83 km west of Brisbane, the state capital.

The local industry has been dominated by agriculture since the end of the 1800s. Laidley has long regarded itself as "Queensland's Country Garden". [cite book |title=Explore Queensland |last=Penguin Books Australia |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |location=Camberwell, Victoria |isbn=0143000152 |pages=45 ] Fruit and vegetable production features prominently, with the majority of beetroot grown in Australia coming from the Laidley district.

History

Allan Cunningham first explored the area in 1829. Cunningham named it Laidley's Plain after the Deputy Commissary General of the colony of New South Wales.cite book |title=Heritage Trails of the Great South East |last=Queensland Environmental Protection Agency |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2000 |publisher=State of Queensland |location= |isbn=0-7345-1008-X |pages=65 ]

The town developed around a wagon stop on the main road route between Ipswich and Toowoomba. A stop was needed after the climb over the small Little Liverpool Range west of Marburg. ]

By the 1850s the area was being cleared for sheep grazing. ] In the mid 1870s the railway line from Grandchester stopped at a railway station 1.5 km north of the town. ]

Between 1911 and 1955, a branch railway line ran from Laidley along the Laidley Creek to the settlement at Mulgowie. ["The Laidley Creek Branch Line" Armstrong, J. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin April, 1968 pp 91-95]

The town was the centre of the Shire of Laidley, a former local government area.

ee also

*Bill Gunn Dam

References

External links

* [http://www.laidley.qld.gov.au/site/ Laidley Shire Council]