LAIDLEY

Laidley is located around 45km from Ipswich, 60km from Toowoomba and 85km from Brisbane.  It is located 9km off the Warrego Highway and is the second largest town in the Lockyer Valley.  The town boasts some of the best country hospitality around, stunning scenery and some of the most fertile farmlands in the world.

Laidley was founded by the botanist and explorer, Allan Cunningham when he crossed the Little Liverpool Range and probed the Lockyer Valley in 1829.  It is then that he came across the fertile plain where he said the following:

"The soil appeared of a rich description partaking of a loam, with a decomposition of the Traprocks of the surrounding hills.  This fine timbered land, which I have named Laidley's Plain (as a compliment to our present Deputy Commissary-General), would therefore produce very heavy crops of maize and other grain and is naturally clothed with an abundance of excellent pasture."

This praiseworthy statement about the land by Cunningham was proved to be accurate.  By the 1840s squatters arrived and began grazing runs in the valleys of the Darling Downs while some spilt into the Moreton region.  J.P. Robinson took up a run of around 150,000 acres on the Laidley Plain.  Because the area lacked fences, squatters were assisted by new English immigrants in managing their massive pastoral properties.  Many were employed as shepherds to guard the sheep flocks from dingoes and Aborigines.  This type of work meant a lonely and hard existence and meant that the food which arrived each fortnight was greatly looked forward to, more for the company than the quality of food.

Due to its lagoon that provided water for bullocks and horses and its pub to quench the thirst of coach drivers and teamsters, Laidley was a convenient resting stop on the way from Ipswich to Drayton (today a suburb of Toowoomba).  Once a blacksmith, grocer and butcher joined the pub it becam a small settlement.  However once the railway line arrived in 1866 a new settlement was formed around the station which led to many of the township's buildings being moved to this new location.

The Queensland Government passed a series of land acts in the 1860s and onward in response to the new immigrants for closer settlement.  This led to the squatters and their stock being forced to the edge of good agricultural land as the valley was seeded with vegetable crops by farmers which transformed the valley floor into a massive 'market garden' that supplied fresh produce to the growing settlement of Brisbane during the nineteenth century.

The Laidley area is still a market garden today with very fertile irrigated soils that produce a more diverse range of crops than ever before.  Some of these include grain, lucerne and oil seeds as well as a wide variety of vegetables.  Farms in the Lockyer Valley produce around 90% of Queensland's beetroot crop.  Laidley is a popular stop along the way on the Cobb & Co route and provides visitors with many services.

Some must see landmarks:

Das Neumann House
Located on the corner of Williams and Patrick Streets, this colonial weatherboard building was built by Herman Neumann, a local carpenter and cabinetmaker, in 1893.  The descendents of Neumann donated the building to the shire council in 1983 where it is now home to the tourist information centre and craft shops.

Laidley Pioneer Village
The pioneer village is located on the site of Laidley's original settlement and is on the historic coach road to Drayton where teamsters would make their first night's camp after crossing the Little Liverpool Range from the railhead at Grandchester.  The village was established in  1969 by the Laidley Historical Society and includes an original pioneer cottage, a museum with artefacts and photographic displays, a nineteenth-century bush school and early farming machinery.

St. Saviour's Anglican Church
This Gothic-style building that is located in Ambrose Street was built in 1910 and is believed to be the first church in Australia built of reinforced concrete.

Laidley's shopfronts also date back to the 1800's and are a testiment to it's history.  Laidley is also well known for it country markets that are held every Friday in the main street of town.  The park adjacent to the town also hosts a large market on the fourth Saturday of every month.  These markets are the ideal place to buy a variety of goods such as home grown plants, fresh farm produce and home made baked goods such as cakes, scones, biscuits, james and chutneys.  The main street of town is also home to a large Clydesdale statue which represents the great contribution the horses made to the town in the past as well as serving as a reminder of the fact that a Show and Field Day is held each year by the Laidley Heavy HOrse Field Day Association.

Some of Laidley's services and businesses include:

- Hospital
- Medical Centre
- Tabel Lutheran Home
- St. Mary's Catholic Primary School
- State Primary School
- State High School
- 4 hotels
- Golf course
- Swimming facilities
- 2 supermarkets (Supa IGA & Foodworks)