Leyburn

Leyburn (pronounced Lee-burn) is a rural town in the Southern Downs Region and a locality split between the South Downs Region and the Toowoomba Region in Queensland, Australia.

Leyburn (pronounced Lee-burn) is a rural town in the Southern Downs Region and a locality split between the South Downs Region and the Toowoomba Region in Queensland, Australia.

In the 2016 census, Leyburn had a population of 476 people.

Leyburn was named in the 1840s by William Gray, Snr., who came to the area by bullock dray from Pitt Town on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. The first name for the locality was Canal Creek; the name was changed to Leyburn by Henry and Jane Kirby, Gray's son-in-law and daughter, and derives from the market town of Leyburn in the English county of Yorkshire.The site for the town was surveyed in November 1852. Henry Kirby and another man named Collins applied in 1854 for the licence of the Travellers' Home Inn at Leyburn.In 1858 James Murray erected his Coffee Room Inn and Boarding House (now the Granall Residence).The post office at Leyburn opened on 1 January 1861.A police force was established in 1861. At that time the town had a permanent population 65 but many transients.Leyburn State School opened on 13 January 1862.In 1863 James Murray built The Royal Hotel at 71 MacIntyre Street (28.0113°S 151.5831°E? / -28.0113; 151.5831? (Royal Hotel)), opposite his Coffee Inn.A court house was built in 1866. It was used until 1929.The Rosenthal Division was established in 1889 and became the Shire of Rosenthal in 1903. Although Leyburn was the largest town within this local government area, it was not chosen as the administrative centre as Leyburn did not have a railway connection in 1889. Instead, offices were established in Warwick outside of the district.

On Sunday 8 December 1901 Fathers Horan and O'Brien officially opened St Matthew's Catholic Church. Fund raising for the church had commenced in 1871. It has been suggested that the church was completed (but not officially opened) in 1897 with a wedding held there in September 1898.The Leyburn branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association was formed in 1924. They built their hall in 1928.During World War II, an airfield with a 7,000-foot runway was constructed by April 1943 for the use of the United States Army Air Force. The airfield was eventually used by 21 Squadron, 23 Squadron and 99 Squadron. and was eventually abandoned by the RAAF in December 1945. The abandoned airfield became the site of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, the first time the Australian Grand Prix was held in Queensland.

In the 2006 census, Leyburn and the surrounding area had a population of 348.In the 2011 census, Leyburn had a population of 416 people.In the 2016 census, Leyburn had a population of 476 people.