Toowoomba Foundry
| Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd | |
|---|---|
Toowoomba Foundry, 2012
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| Location | 251-267 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°33′13″S 151°57′13″E / 27.5536°S 151.9537°ECoordinates: 27°33′13″S 151°57′13″E / 27.5536°S 151.9537°E |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | c. 1910 - 1940s |
| Official name: Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd, Griffiths Brothers and Company, Southern Cross Works, Toowoomba Foundry and Railway Rolling Stock Manufacturing Company | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 7 July 2004 |
| Reference no. | 601300 |
| Significant period |
c. 1910-1940s (fabric) 1876-1987 (historical) |
| Significant components | railway, machinery/plant/equipment - manufacturing/processing, canteen, workshop, trees/plantings, office/administration building |
 Location of Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd in Queensland
Location of Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd in Queensland
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Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd is a heritage-listed former foundry at 251-267 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was built from c. 1910 to 1940s. It is also known as Griffiths Brothers & Company, Southern Cross Works, and Toowoomba Foundry and Railway Rolling Stock Manufacturing Company. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 July 2004. It is currently pending redevelopment as a Bunnings Warehouse outlet, having obtained Toowoomba Regional Council approval to demolish some of the heritage-listed structures on the site, with construction due to begin in late 2016.
The Toowoomba Foundry is located in Ruthven Street on a prominent site adjacent to the Defiance Flour Mill and the Toowoomba Railway Station. It was established in 1871 by George Washington Griffiths and continually operated as a foundry until 2012.
Owned by Griffiths family descendants until 1987 when it was purchased by National Consolidated, the Foundry is one of the last surviving 19th century industries on the Darling Downs. Among other products, it produced rolling stock for Queensland Railways, and the Southern Cross windmill, one of the most enduring icons on the Downs.
The present site of Toowoomba was initially known as the Swamp and during the 1840s was secondary to the principal Darling Downs township of Drayton.
European discovery of the Darling Downs occurred in 1828 when Alan Cunningham provided a route through the Great Dividing Range which separated the Downs from the Moreton Bay region. In 1840, Patrick Leslie became the first settler on the Downs, quickly followed by others and in 1842, a more accessible route through the Range was opened. Drayton evolved from a stopping place for those reaching the top of the Range, although by 1848 water shortages prompted moves to The Swamp, which was renamed Toowoomba in 1858.
George Washington Griffiths of Bristol, England arrived in Australia in 1870 with his wife, daughter and two sons. After attending a lecture given by J C White of Jondaryan, Griffiths decided to settle in Toowoomba where he gained work as a builder.
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