Goombungee

Goombungee is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia.

Goombungee is a rural town and locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census the locality of Goombungee had a population of 1,026 people.

The name Goombungee derives from the parish, which in turn took its name from a pastoral run name named by pastoralist Charles William Pitts in 1854. It is thought be a corruption of an Aboriginal name for area, either goubunga or gonbunga.The first meeting of the former local government area of Shire of Rosalie was held on 17 February 1879. The town is now part of the Toowoomba Region local government area. Goombungee Post Office opened by 1895 (a receiving office had been open from 1878, first known as Gomoran).Goombungee Provisional School opened on 1 November 1881. On 3 October 1887 it became Goombungee State School.In October 1890 St Matthew's Lutheran Church opened with 500 people in attendance.On Sunday 20 April 1902 St Colman's Catholic Church was opened.In August 1889 the Queensland Government provided 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land for a cemetery. However, the soil proved too difficult to dig a grave, so another 6.2-acre (2.5 ha) cemetery reserve was provided on 17 January 1894. The first burial in the new cemetery was Edith Annie Lloyd, aged 10 months, occurring on 23 July 1894. Although intended as a cemetery for Goombungee, its location resulted in it being used by residents of both Goombungee and Haden and the name Goombungee-Haden Cemetery began to be used in 1925. In 2008 the cemetery's private trustees handed over the responsibility for the cemetery to the Toowoomba Regional Council.The Goombungee Congregational Church was completed in July 1903. As part of the creation of the Uniting Church in Australia, in 1977 it became the Goombungee Uniting Church in conjunction with the East Lynne (Boodua) Methodist congregation. In 1979, the former Greenwood Methodist Church was relocated to the site immediately east of the Congregational Church building and was officially opened as the new Goombungee Uniting Church on 22 April 1979 with the Congregational Church building becoming the church hall. In late 1999 the former Congregational Church building was demolished and the Peranga Uniting Church relocated to its site to be new church hall. On 26 August 2012 the site (with the Greenwood and Peranga buildings) was decommissioned as a church and subsequently sold into private ownership for $185,000. The church was at 6 George Street (27.3079°S 151.8534°E? / -27.3079; 151.8534? (Goombungee Uniting Church (former))) and the church buildings are still extant (as at 2020).On Thursday 30 April 1908 St Mark's Anglican Church was opened by Archdeacon Henry Le Fanu.In December 1920 the Goombungee War Memorial was unveiled by Sir T W Glasgow.The Assembly of God church was built by volunteer labour on land donated by Stan and Mavis Kajewski. On 25 August 1956 the church was officially opened by Pastor H E Wiggins of Maryborough. When the Assembly of God amalgamated to form the Australian Christian Churches, the church was renamed Goombungee Christian Church.Goombungee Wesleyan Methodist Church was established in 1981.In 2003, the town was connected to a mains water supply.The Goombungee Library opened in 2005.At the 2011 census Goombungee had a population of 1,032.In the 2016 census the locality of Goombungee had a population of 1,026 people.In 2019 the Anglican parish of Crows Nest (which includes Goombungee) entered in a partnership with St David's Anglican Church in Chelmer, Brisbane, to share their ministry through a combination of services at the various churches combined with online services from St David's. It is an experiment in how the Anglican Church may operate in the future.

The town boasts a unique ironman at the southern entrance to the town which is reminiscent of the Rural Ironman and Ironwoman competition which was once held annually on Australia Day. There is also a historic museum and an art gallery.