by Rachel Timmins (
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I am a freelance copywriter and photojournalist based in Toowoomba. I have had poetry, blogs, devotionals, fiction, reviews and articles published and have been an editor for a poetry magazine.
Birdlife thrives around East Creek, which flows under the weeping willows towards historic homes. Chinese garden vegetables were once sold to the markets along the creek banks. Pause at the James Street intersection to imagine bullock teams trundling down the street, as they did prior to 1867 when the railway came into operation.
The Paddington Estate is now part of the Caledonian Estate Urban Conservation Precinct. John Watts, a member of the first Parliament of Queensland, owned twenty acres prior to its subdivision. 'Glenroy', a private residence at 60 Herries Street, is over one hundred years old and shows off its original iron balustrade.
'Glenroy' in the Paddington Estate.
The Paddington store has existed since the late 1800's and was a saddlery in 1925. Various and unusual styles of architecture can be viewed alongside history including the sinking of a town well, former resident Judge Alfred Lutwyche's courtroom humour and a former lying-in hospital (8 George Street). At the bottom of Queens Park stands a wall of basalt stone from the ridge of the dead volcano.
Now that you've learned a little more about Toowoomba you may realise it's more than just a place to do the 'Picnic Point thing' as some call it. Why not have your next picnic along the banks of the tree-lined East Creek?
The walk may take approximately one hour. A free brochure can be collected from the
Toowoomba Visitor Information Centre.
'Paddington' residence.
