From the ‘clean waters’, a growing city grows GREETINGS FROM QUEANBEYAN

IT is believed that the traditional Aboriginal people first arrived in Queanbeyan around 20,000 years ago, according to the QueanbeyanPalerang Library.

Its website says that with two major rivers flowing through the area, it was an ideal settlement point with the rivers providing rich food sources in the form of fish, shellfish, waterfowl and edible roots.

The interfluvial country provided good grazing for emu, kangaroo and wallaby. Queanbeyan is on Ngambri/Ngunnawal land.

While searching for the Murrumbidgee River, Joseph Wild, James Vaughan and Charles Throsby Smith came across the present location of Queanbeyan. They were the first non-indigenous people to see the present location of Queanbeyan when they discovered the junction of the Molonglo and Queanbeyan Rivers about two kilometres from the present town on December 8, 1820.

The first use of land at Queanbeyan was by an unauthorised occupant Timothy Beard, who called his property “Quinbean”, which is thought to be an Aboriginal word for “clear water”. This gave the city its modern name, Queanbeyan.

With the increasing population during the 1830s, agitation for the establishment of a courthouse and post office led to a post office at Queanbeyan being established in 1836, followed by the appointment of a resident magistrate and the establishment of a court in 1837.

Queanbeyan was formally proclaimed as a settlement on September 28, 1838.

In 1841 there were three brick buildings and seven wooden buildings in Queanbeyan. There were 372 residents in 1851 and 526 in 1861 and Queanbeyan was the service centre of the district. There were three large stores and two hotels. Another six inns were doing business on the roads leading out of the town. There were two steam mills and a new hospital was being erected.

Proclamation Order for Queanbeyan from September 28, 1838.

There were three churches – Christ Church, St. Gregory’s and the Methodist Church – and schools were in existence at both Christ Church and St. Gregory’s. A newspaper, “The Golden Age”, was founded by John Gale in 1860. The new courthouse was built in 1860 on Monaro Street.

During the 1860s communications were improved by the extension of the telegraph line from Braidwood to Queanbeyan which opened in 1864 and the approach of the railway which reached Goulburn in 1869. In 1869 the Queanbeyan Post and Telegraph offices were combined and the first permanent post office was opened at the corner of Monaro and Lowe Streets in 1880.

The library website writes that the first official train reached Bungendore on March 4, 1885, but engineering difficulties and the need to construct two large bridges delayed the opening of the section to Queanbeyan until September 8, 1887.

Queanbeyan’s fourth church, St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church opened in 1874 and its second bank, the Bank of NSW, opened in 1878. A new public school was built in 1877. Construction of St. Benedict’s convent and boarding school run by the Good Samaritan sisters was begun in 1880.

In February 1885 Queanbeyan was proclaimed a municipality and at the first elections in April, 1885, nine aldermen were selected from 14 candidates and John James Wright became the first mayor.

The first bridge across the Queanbeyan River was opened in 1858 but closed in 1899. Another bridge opened in 1900, which was later replaced by a new bridge in 1974. The adjacent weir and the Suspension Bridge were opened in 1901. The Suspension Bridge was destroyed by the flood of 1925 and a replacement was built in 1938.

The building of Canberra created new avenues for employment and stimulated business and housing development. The recommencement of the building of Canberra in 1921 resulted in a second boom in Queanbeyan when many new buildings were erected.

Benefits resulting from the expansion of the early 1920s included supply of electricity (1920) and water (1926).

By 1972 the population had risen to more than 15,000.

The city had proved that while it was in close proximity to Canberra it was an independent entity and Queanbeyan was proclaimed a city on July 7, 1972. Now, in 2023, the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council has a population of 64,000.

New developments at Googong and in the Jerrabomberra Valley make Queanbeyan one of the fastest growing centres in NSW.

Crocodile rocking down by the river

DARREN Percival, from Bungendore, and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, will make up Queanbeyan’s own Elton John tribute band when the QueanbeyanPalerang Regional Council (QPRC) hosts the seventh annual “Music on the River” at Queen Elizabeth II Park.

Community events officer Melissa Aitchison says: “This year we are bringing a slight twist to our usual performance from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

“The catchy melodies of Elton John will take over our annual open-air concert” qprc.nsw.gov.au/Community/Events

There will be opening performances from Durella Street Dudes, Canberra Harmony Chorus and Woodface.

Melissa encourages people to have their next “family day out” by the Queanbeyan River at 3pm, on February 4.

The next day at 10am the QPRC is hosting the first Bungendore Multicultural Festival at Mick Sherd Oval to “celebrate the diversity and vitality of the area”.

“This will be a smaller version of the Queanbeyan festival with lots of food and lots of amusement, activities for the kids and market stalls,” says Melissa.

The “original” Queanbeyan Multicultural Festival will also have food, dance, music and markets at Queanbeyan Park, 10am, on March 5.

“At this year’s festival, there will be two stages of performances,” says Melissa.