Toowoomba's Literary History

Around his feet the chips of leather fall and tumble like the crumbs he throws to wag-tails, sparrows and pardalotes in spring, when ‘week-end’ means a closed shop, an open heart, and the songs of a valley miles away by a zig zag track but a wing by a thought of love … ‘The Bird Lover: In My father’s shop in the 1930s,’ David Rowbotham.

Toowoomba has a distinguished literary history, which is worthy of collection. In the lead up to Federation in the 1890s it produced Australia's most influential critic and editor, A. G. Stephens; the nation's most successful humorist, Steele Rudd; and a writer, George Essex Evans, who on his death was eulogised as the national poet by the Prime Minister of the day, Alfred Deakin.

The Literary History of Toowoomba is divided into three sections: Writers; Places; History.

Writers provides a series of biographies for important Toowoomba writers and some suggestions for further reading.

Places identifies a number of significant literary sites in the city and the surrounding area.

History divides the past into significant periods and under appropriate headings provides a more detailed account of the City's literary culture.

Writers and Places are under continuous development and will accumulate new entries as research continues.