LOWOOD

Lowood is a rural town consisting of around 1,000 people that is around 30km from Ipswich and 65km from Brisbane. Lowood is situated on the Brisbane River which offers abundant swimming and fishing opportunties. It is also nearby to Atkinson Dam where boating, water skiing and fishing are all popular activities. For those who prefer to keep their feat on dry land, Lowood has the rail trail pass through it which caters for cyclists, horse-riders and walkers.

Lowood is located in the Brisbane Valley and is surrounded by the "market basket" fields of the Lockyer Valley and Somerset Region where traditional industries of fruit, veges and small crops. In recent times the grazing of beef cattle, sheep, goats and some deer has become quite profitable to the area. The peaceful lifestyle and surroundings have become very popular to Ipswich and Brisbane residents for day trips while also attracting many people moving into the ever increasing number of rural/residential housing estates.

Lowood provides beautiful scenery with rolling hills and farming paddocks proving to be very pleasing to the eye. There is also a proud history on display with some buildings being over 100 years old. Hospitality is a speciality with the two pubs in town both providing tasty meals while the Club Hotel also provides accommodation for those looking to stay the night.

Public transport is limited. There are two bus services that go to Ipswich in the morning and one that returns from Ipswich in the evening. Lowood has both a primary school (Lowood State Primary School) and also a high school (Lowood State High School). Many smaller surrounding towns have small primary schools of their own but rely on Lowood High for secondary school education.

The name "Lowood" came about because of the "low woods" of brigalow that were around the Lowood area compared to the taller trees found elsewhere around the Brisbane Valley.

Many large pastoral leaseholds were either completely or partly resumed in the 1860's & 1870's for closer settlement. Many of the families that settled were German. There was a German Baptist church, German Apostolic church and Bethel Lutheran church all within the area of Tarampa and Upper Tarampa (now Lowood). The Upper Tarampa school (now Lowood State Primary School) was opened in 1881.

It wasn't until 1884 that the settlement really began to take off and form a town. This is because in 1884 the Brisbane Valley Railway was begun. The railway started in Ipswich and Lowood was the end of the line for a period of about two years. The town therefore grew from the subdivision around this new railway station. This station became busy due to the sawmilling industry in the area. By the 1890's things really began to take off with a race club being formed, school of arts built as well as both Methodist and Anglican churches being opened. In 1901 a decorative building was built by the Bank of Queensland. After the land was cleared of timber dairying became a major industry, which led to a butter factory opening in 1903. By 1907 the town formed an agricultural and pastoral society as the population neared 600 people.

In 1912 the butter factory was converted to a condensed milk factory. The area was also unified to form Lowood Shire in 1912. However the shire was unsuccessful and in 1916 instead divided into Esk and Rosewood Shires. Despite this the town still managed to maintain it's population and in 1925 the Pugh's Queensland directory recorded three hotels, four blacksmiths, two banks, four storekeepers, several tradespeople and a number of other shops. More than half of the business names were German. After many years of pictures being shown in the local hall, the Jubilee picture theater was built in 1926.