Coominya railway station

Coominya railway station
regional rail
Coominya railway station, 2011
Location	Coominya, Australia
Coordinates	27°23′25″S 152°30′07″E / 27.3903°S 152.5020°E / -27.3903; 152.5020Coordinates: 27°23′25″S 152°30′07″E / 27.3903°S 152.5020°E / -27.3903; 152.5020
Line(s)	Brisbane Valley
Tracks	Single
History
Opened	1886
Closed	1988

Coominya railway station is central to all activities in historic Coominya village, located in the Somerset Region of South East Queensland.

Coominya village, a township of approximately 467 persons is located in South East Queensland approximately 83 kilometres (52 miles) west of Brisbane, Queensland’s capital city, in Australia. Coominya village which is approximately two km from Wivenhoe Dam can be accessed by road from the Brisbane Valley Highway which crosses the wall of the Dam further south. The completion of the construction of Wivenhoe Dam took place in 1985. Its purpose was as a flood mitigation and water storage measure. It also supplies drinking water to Brisbane and local regions. However, Coominya village and its historic buildings, such as the old railway station, are still dependent on tank water.

Coominya railway siding came into being on 9 August 1886 and became known as 'Bellevue'. This occurred when the section of the Brisbane Valley railway line from Lowood to Esk which passed through Coominya was officially opened. The original goods platform siding was established over the rise, east of its current site, at the entrance to ‘Bellevue Station’, the cattle selection.

However, it was difficult for trains to start uphill and the siding was relocated to a more level site where it remains to this day. In 1887, it became a mail receiving station to complement Bellevue Station which was also a receiving station. A goods shed was built in 1891.

In 1895, Bellevue became an electric telegraph station. The increased demand for services over the following ten years resulted in a name change for the railway station. It has been suggested that there may have been confusion between mail recipients of Bellevue (the railway station) and Bellevue Station (the cattle selection).

In 1905, Mr Lumley Hill, the proprietor of Bellevue Station suggested the name ‘Coominya’ for the rail siding. Indigenuous Yugarabul dialect was probably spoken in the district and ‘Coominya’ a derivation of this dialect. According to Mr Lumley Hill it meant ‘I see water’. However, as most of the visible water around Coominya is formed in man-made landscapes it has been suggested that swamps towards Clarendon may have been the water spoken of. There is a natural swampy area south of Coominya which may be the area referred to in the records.