Quinalow is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Toowoomba Region The Toowoomba Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area (LGA) on the border of Darling Downs and South East Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, the LGA was preceded by several other local go ...

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. In the , the locality of Quinalow had a population of 205 people.

Geography

The town is located on

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 ...

in the north of the locality and on the bank of

Myall Creek The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least 28 unarmed Aboriginal people in the Colony of New South Wales by eight colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek in the north of the colony. Seven perpetrators were convicted of murder a ...

Road infrastructure

The

Dalby–Cooyar Road The roads that join the towns of , and form a triangle that encloses some of the most fertile land on the Darling Downs in Queensland, Australia. These roads are the Warrego Highway, Oakey–Cooyar Road and Dalby–Cooyar Road. Several of ...

runs along the northern boundary. The Pechey-Maclagan Road runs through from south to north.

History

The Daly brothers established the first butter-and-cheese factory on the Darling Downs in 1889 at Quinalow. The district was named ''Quinalow'' by the Daly brothers who named it after

Catholic Bishop In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy orders in the Catholic Church, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teachin ...

James Quinn who encouraged Irish Catholics suffering due to the Great Famine to immigrate and settle in the area. The ''-alow'' comes from the Irish word ''

lough ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or " sea inlet" in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes called a lochan. Lochs whic ...

'' meaning a brook or stream. Quinalow Provisional School opened on 6 May 1901, with the original school building being completed on 26 February 1901 at a cost of 122 pound 17 shillings. On 1 January 1909, it became Quinalow State School. In 1965 the school offered secondary schooling. In 1985 a pre-school was added. In August 1979 the original school building (built in 1901) was relocated to Daly Street (), where it was used as a preschool until the new preschool building was built at the school. The original school building was then opened in March 1984 as Quinalow Library. It underwent a major refurbishment in 2014. Quinalow was affected by the

2010–2011 Queensland floods A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in December 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 90 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at A ...

. Rising floodwaters isolated the town, surrounding the Quinalow pub. Myall Creek was not thought to have risen as high as it did in the 1981 flood.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Quinalow had a population of 411 people. In the , the locality of Quinalow had a population of 173 people. In the , the locality of Quinalow had a population of 205 people.

Education

Quinalow State School is a government primary and secondary (Prep-10) school for boys and girls at 7 Progress Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 78 students with 14 teachers (12 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (6 full-time equivalent). For secondary education to Year 12, the nearest government secondary schools are

Dalby State High School Dalby State High School is a heritage-listed Queensland State High Schools, state high school at 28B Nicholson Street, Dalby, Queensland, Dalby, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1953 to 1954. It was added to the ...

in Dalby to the west and Oakey State High School in

Oakey Oakey is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. The Oakey Army Aviation Centre, Museum of Army Aviation is located at Oakey Airport. In the , the locality of Oakey had a pop ...

to the south.

Amenities

The

Toowoomba Regional Council The Toowoomba Region is a local government area (LGA) on the border of Darling Downs and South East Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, the LGA was preceded by several other local government authorities with histo ...

operates a public library in Daly Street. Quinalow Public Hall is on the corner of Daly Street and Pechey Maclagan Road ().