Cressbrook, Queensland

Cressbrook is a locality in the Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia.[1] It is known for its recreational aviation facilities.

Cressbrook
Queensland
Cressbrook
Coordinates27°04′55″S 152°26′04″E
Postcode(s)4313
Location
LGA(s)Somerset Region
State electorate(s)Nanango
Federal Division(s)Blair
Suburbs around Cressbrook:
Braemore Scrub Creek Fulham
Braemore Cressbrook Lower Cressbrook
Toogoolawah Mount Beppo Lake Wivenhoe

Geography

Cressbrook is a sparsely populated rural area with land used for crops and grazing; there is no urban centre. It is bounded by the Brisbane River to the north and east. Cressbrook Creek meanders from the west to the east of the locality where it enters the Brisbane River. The Cressbrook-Carboonbah Road traverses from the Brisbane Valley Highway in the north-west through the south-east of the locality towards Mount Beppo and beyond to Carboonbah.[2]

History

The locality of Cressbrook takes its name from the Cressbrook Homestead established by David Cannon McConnel in 1841, who came from the village of Cressbrook in Derbyshire, England.[3]

In 1877, 15,700 acres (6,400 ha) were resumed from the Cressbrook pastoral run and offered for selection on 17 April 1877.[4]

Cressbrook Provisional School was operating in 1881 but closed in 1882 due to low student numbers; its opening date is unknown.[5][6]

In 1898, the McConnel family established a condensed milk factory at Cressbrook; it was sold to Nestlé in 1907.[7]

Cressbrook Lower State School opened on 11 April 1916. It closed in 1953.[6]

Heritage listings

Cressbrook has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield

The Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield (ICAO: YWSG) is in the south-east of the locality and provides facilities for sports and recreational aviation. There are three grass runways of length 900 metres (3,000 ft), 820 metres (2,690 ft) and 815 metres (2,674 ft). A number of aviation clubs operate from the airfield, flying vintage planes, gyroplanes, gliders, performing acrobatics and skydiving. Many recreational aviation events are held each year at the airfield.[8]

The airfield was established in 1942 as part of Australia's defences during World War II and known as the Toogoolawah airfield. After the war, the airfield was no longer needed for defence purposes, the buildings were removed and the land was used for grazing. In the early 1980s, the desire for recreational airfield facilities resulted in a group of recreational pilots re-establishing the runways and taxiways, and reopening the airfield in 1990 as the Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield.[9] The name Watts Bridge is a reference to a nearby bridge that crossed the Brisbane River connecting Silverleigh Road in Cressbrook to Cooeeimbardi Road in Lower Cressbrook and was named after local dairyman James Robert Watts. Having survived many floods of the Brisbane River, the bridge was washed away in the 1974 Brisbane flood and not replaced.[10]

References
  1. "Cressbrook (entry 44860)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  2. "Queensland Globe". State of Queensland. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  3. "Cressbrook Homestead (entry 600503)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  4. "Proclamations under the New Land Acts". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland, Australia. 2 March 1877. p. 3. Retrieved 19 February 2020 – via Trove.
  5. "EDUCATION REPORT". Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald And General Advertiser. XXIII (3293). Queensland, Australia. 1 September 1883. p. 3. Retrieved 26 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN 978-1-921171-26-0
  7. "Toogoolawah". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  8. "Airfield location". Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  9. "Introduction". Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  10. "The Origins and History of Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield During WW2". Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield History. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
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