A BRIEF HISTORY OF LAIDLEY
The Laidley region was once home to the “Kitabul People” before the arrival of Europeans in the early 19th century. Today, the Ugarapul People are the traditional owners of the Lockyer Valley region.
In 1829, Allan Cunningham explored the area and named it Laidley Plains on 22 June 1829, after James Laidley, the Deputy Commissary General of the colony of New South Wales.
The town developed around a wagon stop on the main road route between Ipswich and Toowoomba. A stop was needed after the climb over the small Little Liverpool Range west of Marburg.
By the 1850s, the area was being cleared for sheep grazing. A survey for the growing village was conducted in 1858.
Laidley Post Office opened on 1 February 1861. Laidley Creek West Receiving Office operated from 1899 to 1927, Laidley Creek West Post Office was open from 1927 to 1953, and a telephone office from 1953 to 1956. Laidley Rail Post Office opened in 1915 and closed in 1925. A Travelling Post Office service ran on the Main Line between Brisbane and Toowoomba between 1877 and 1932.
Since 1863, police officers have been stationed in Laidley. The first two police officers who served at Laidley are believed to have been Acting Sergeant William Gunn from 1863 to 1868 and Constable Thomas Raleigh from 1863 to 1865. Since 2015, the Police Station is housed in a refurbished building on Spicer Street. The building was originally the Laidley Courthouse and Public Offices, opened in 1964, housing the Courthouse, State Government offices and the Police.
In the mid-1860s, the railway line from Grandchester stopped at a railway station 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of the town. Between 1911 and 1955, a branch railway line ran from Laidley along the Laidley Creek to the settlement at Mulgowie.
Laidley Old Township Provisional School opened on 9 March 1908. On 1 January 1909, it became Laidley Central State School. The school closed on 12 December 1998, when it was replaced by Laidley District State School at a new location. It was at 21-23 Hope Street. The school buildings are now used as a childcare centre, while the school grounds are now Narda Cricket Oval operated by the Lockyer Valley Regional Council.
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School was established by the Sisters of Mercy and was officially opened on 14 July 1912 by Archbishop James Duhig. The Sisters operated the school until 1988, when the first lay principal was appointed.
On 6 March 1915, the hospital officially opened in Laidley, known as “Lockyer General Hospital”. It was moved in 1922 to its current site between Spicer Street and William Street where it reopened on 23 June 1923. Old meeting minutes tell that a committee had started talks for a local hospital in 1898. An official book of minutes had been kept since June 1912. In 2001, certain parts of the building complex were listed by Council in the EPA’s Research Inventory of Historical Places (QCHIP).
Laidley Pioneer Village and Museum was established in 1972 by the Laidley District Historical Society on the site of the original resting paddock used by horses of the Cobb & Co stagecoaches. It was the first heritage village developed in Queensland.
Laidley State High School opened on 29 January 1985; this effectively replaced the secondary department that operated at Laidley North State School from 1864 to 1984.
In 1998, Das Neumann Haus Museum opened to the public as an historic house museum. A visitor information centre, a cafe and a gift shop are also operated within the building.
The town was the centre of the Shire of Laidley until 2008, when the shire was incorporated into the new Lockyer Valley Region local government area.
In the 2016 census, the locality of Laidley had a population of 3,808 people.
