Wallangarra - Culture and History

It was first settled in the 1840s as graziers pushed into the rich grazing country of the Darling Downs. In 1865 the border tree (it still stands rather forlornly behind the Tourist Information Office) was marked by Surveyor Roberts. And in the late 1880s, with the advent of the railway, the settlement had grown sufficiently for the first school to be built.

It was an isolated settlement which, with its altitude at 877 metres above sea level, was colder than most of Queensland. It may have been located in Queensland but it was very much a part of a range of mountains which included towns like Glen Innes and Armidale. Although climatically it points south in many other ways it is very much a Queensland town. In spite of the winter cold the town has a number of typical tropical Queensland houses raised well above the ground to allow the air to circulate freely. A rather unpleasant thought when the temperature drops below zero.