Goondiwindi () is a rural town and locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , Goondiwindi had a population of 6,355 people.
Geography
Goondiwindi is on the Macintyre River in Queensland near the New South Wales border, south west of the Queensland state capital, Brisbane. The town of Boggabilla is to the south-east on the New South Wales side of the border. Most of the area surrounding the town is farmland.
Climate
Goondiwindi experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa, Trewartha: Cfal), with hot, humid summers and mild, dry winters. Average annual rainfall for this region is .
History
Bigambul people
Bigambul (also known as Bigambal, Bigumbil, Pikambul, Pikumbul) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Bigambul people. The Bigambul language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Goondiwindi Regional Council, including the towns of Goondiwindi, Yelarbon and Texas extending north towards Moonie and Millmerran.
British colonisation
The first British pastoralist to take up land in the area was Richard Hargrave who, in 1840, was employed by John Hosking to form a cattle station along the Macintyre River. Hargrave took 5,000 head of cattle and formed the Gundi Windi (Goondiwindi), Callandoon, Wyemoo and Beeboo stations. The name Goondiwindi derives from an Aboriginal word with goondi indicating droppings or dung and windi indicating duck, probably connected with the roosting place on a large rock in the Macintyre River.
Over the following years, the Bigambul resisted the occupation of their lands, attacking Hargrave's livestock and shepherds as well as those of other nearby colonists. In 1843, John Hosking became insolvent but Hargrave stayed on at Gundi Windi until 1844 when he was defeated by Aboriginal resistance and forced to abandon the property.
Around 1848, Richard Purvis Marshall and his brother re-established the Gundi Windi pastoral station with the financial backing of Henry Dangar. Frontier conflict with the Aboriginal people resumed until Frederick Walker and the mounted Native Police under his command arrived in 1849 to crush most of the opposition. In July of that year, Walker and his troopers, accompanied by Marshall and other squatters, routed a large band of Aboriginal warriors at Carbucky, ten kilometres to the west of Gundi Windi. Some reports indicated up to a hundred Aborigines were killed in this skirmish, with Walker expressing that he would have annihilated them all if he had more daylight. This battle ended Aboriginal resistance in the vicinity. Marshall soon after became a Native Police officer, and in 1855 he was appointed Commandant of that force.
Township of Goondiwindi
On 19 June 1860, the Queensland Government sold town and country lots in the village of Goondiwindi.
Gundiwindi Post Office opened by 1860. It was renamed Goondiwindi by 1861.
Goondiwindi State School opened on 1 September 1864.
Goondiwindi was first proclaimed a municipality on 20 October 1888. The town boundaries have not altered to this day, and, before the Federation of Australia in 1901, the town served as a border crossing between Queensland and New South Wales. The customs house from that era is now a museum.
Goondiwindi East Provisional School opened on 4 July 1898, becoming Goondiwindi East State School in 1909. The school closed about 1914, reopening again in 1920. It finally closed in 1947.
Goondiwindi West Provisional School opened in 1900, becoming Goondiwindi West State School on 1 January 1909. It closed about 1950.
The South Western railway line from Inglewood reached Goondiwindi on 13 October 1908 with the eastern part of the locality being served by Mooroobie railway station (now abandoned, ) and the town being served by the Goondiwindi railway station (). The next section of railway line from Goondiwindi to Talwood opened on 4 May 1910, with the western part of the locality being served by Hunter railway station (now abandoned, ).
Goondiwindi North Provisional School opened in 1901, becoming Goondiwindi North State School on 1 January 1909. It closed due to low student numbers about 1911 but reopened on 24 November 1913 as the Moogoon Road State School. The school closed again due to low student numbers in 1925, but reopened in 1931. It finally closed about 1939.