The Lockyer Valley is an area of rich farmlands that lies to the west of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia and east of

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

. The Lockyer Valley is rated among the top ten most fertile farming areas in the world, and the intensively cultivated area grows the most diverse range of commercial fruit and vegetables of any area in Australia. The valley is referred to as "Australia's Salad Bowl" to describe the area as one of Australia's premium food bowls. The valley is experiencing increasing urbanisation at both its eastern and western extremities. With a combination of vibrant rural living and affordable land and house prices, the region is experiencing rapid growth and development between the Brisbane-

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

in the east and Toowoomba in the west.

Urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

measures have been implemented to preserve the good quality agricultural land and rural feel of the valley. Such measures largely confine future

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

to non-

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

on the slopes of the hills.

Geography

The valley is enclosed on either side by the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

and lies within the

Lockyer Valley Region The Lockyer Valley Region is a local government area (LGA) in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia. The region is located between the cities of Ipswich and Toowoomba, and is bordered by the Somerset and Southern Downs ...

local government area. The largest town in the Lockyer Valley is Gatton, followed by the towns of Laidley, Withcott, and Plainland. Other notable centres include Hatton Vale, Helidon, Forest Hill,

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

, and Murphys Creek. Lockyer Creek and its tributaries drain the valley and forms a tributary of the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

that eventually empties into

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

. Many of the creeks in the valley are ephemeral. The valley has a number of small dams that serve local storage needs, including Atkinson Dam built in 1970, Bill Gunn Dam and Lake Clarendon. 12 different land types have been identified in the valley. The banks of waterways in the Lockyer Valley have been identified as the source of silt, which caused problems for the Mount Crosby Pumping Station during Cyclone Oswald. In 2014, $8 million was allocated to prevent soil erosion within the Lockyer Valley.

History

The valley was once home to the Kitabul people before the arrival of Europeans in the early 19th century. Today, the

Jagera people The Jagera people, also written Yagarr, Yaggera, Yuggera, and other variants, are the Australian First Nations people who speak the Yuggera language. The Yuggera language which encompasses a number of dialects was spoken by the traditional own ...

are considered the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the Lockyer Valley region. One of the first white people known to the Indigenous people in the area was said to be "Boralcho" Baker, who lived with the Jagera people from 1826 for 18 years. In 1827, the explorer Allan Cunningham made his first contact.Riethmuller, Neil (2006). The Darling Downs Aborigines: 1787-2004: Genocide and Survival. Toowoomba. ISBN 1920855742, p.7

Squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

licenses were first granted in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1836 for what was by then considered

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

. Squatters arrived in the area east of the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

from 1840 onwards, and land clearing began for the grazing of live stock. The squatters lived in very basic huts like the DesJardins cottage, which can be seen at the Laidley Pioneer Village. From the late 1840s, many squatting licenses were turned into longer leases.W.R.E. Blake (1991). A story of the Laidley Shire : from 1829 onwards to all this. Laidley, pp.16-17 Increasing numbers of unfenced grazing sheep and stations saw the traditional food sources of Aborigines decrease considerably. Many of them retreated into the mountains where they found a smaller range of edible food sources than on the grasslands, which was one of the reasons for the near complete devastation of the Indigenous inhabitants of the area. The town of Gatton was gazetted in 1855, making it one of Queensland's earliest European settlements. The valley was populated by German immigrants under a scheme organised by Lutheran Pastor Heussler. The first rail line in the valley was opened in 1865 when the

Grandchester Grandchester is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Grandchester had a population of 467 people. Geography Grandchester is located west of the ...

services began operation. A small town developed in the 1870s while a small timber industry grew at about the same time. Structures in the valley were damaged by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the area on 17 November 1960. Between 1922 and 1960 the Laidley Valley railway line operated between Mulgowie and Laidley but was never profitable. In 1994, a 41 hectare parcel of scrub, known as Berlin Scrub Nature Refuge, was the first land protected as a nature refuge under the

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

In January 2012, the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre, near Gatton, began operations.

Climate

With an average annual rainfall of 780 mm, the Lockyer Valley is the driest part of South East Queensland. Rainfall is highly variable and droughts are experienced regularly. The Lockyer Valley typically experiences temperatures higher than the Brisbane region in summer, but colder in the winter. In November 2008, the valley experienced some of the worst flooding in its recorded history with farmers experiencing total crop failure. The flooding claimed the lives of livestock as well as an elderly female in the Forest Hill area, caught up in the flooding whilst driving. This event was overshadowed by severe flooding in January 2011. The towns of Withcott and

were particularly hard hit. Flood related deaths were recorded in the communities of Spring Bluff, Murphys Creek, Grantham and Postmans Ridge. Many council-owned bridges in the valley were either completely gone or partially destroyed. To repair roads and drains the

local government area initially estimated the repair bill to be A$176 million. In 2012, a solar powered, radar based, imaging system was installed to detect dramatic rises in creek water levels. The cameras monitor conditions from atop a five to six-metre high pole to avoid damage during floods. An LED spotlight is used to take photos at night. When a flood event is detected the system enters a mode where images are taken more frequently. Real time data is transmitted to the council's disaster centre. The council spent $40,000 on the system.

Agriculture

The valley's main agricultural activities are intensive horticulture, cropping and grazing. Major crops grown in the areas include grains and vegetables. Cultivation of turf and lucerne for both dairy and racehorses is also widespread. Most of the water used in agriculture is sourced from below the surface. Farmers in the valley produce around 40% of the fresh vegetables consumed in South East Queensland. Most farms in the Lockyer Valley are small ranging from 100 to 1,000 hectares in size. The valley contains fertile black soils which support a $160 million-a-year vegetable industry. A variable climate and all year cropping has placed significant strain on water supply from groundwater aquifers. The viability of agriculture in the Lockyer Valley has been questioned after unreliable rains during drought, pest outbreaks and crop damage during severe weather have led to a decrease in

agricultural productivity Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of Agriculture, agricultural outputs to inputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, which is known as crop yield, varying products make measuring overall agricultural out ...

. Some farmers have instigated the use of laser measurements to ensure

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

systems are optimally configured and yields are high. Recycled wastewater from the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme could be used for irrigation in the Lockyer. The infrastructure is in place however the cost is prohibitive. Nearly all the nation's processing beetroot is grown in the Lockyer Valley. In 2002, the number of beetroot farmers had reduced to just eight farms. Golden Circle sources vegetables from the Lockyer Valley.

References

External links

Lockyer Valley Tourism & Development Association

Lockyer Valley Community Recovery Plan 2011
Lockyer Valley Regional Council. {{coord, 27, 33, 31.8, S, 152, 16, 41.4, E, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Valleys of Queensland Floods in Queensland Lockyer Valley Region Agriculture in Queensland