Laurel Bank Park

About

Laurel Bank Park is a heritage-listed park at the corner of West Street, Hill Street and Herries Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1904 to 1943. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 November 2018.

Laurel Bank Park is a 4.3-hectare (11-acre) public park situated approximately 800 metres (2,600 ft) southwest of Toowoomba railway station. It is bounded by Herries, West and Hill streets. The park was donated to the City of Toowoomba in 1932 by local resident Samuel George Stephens (junior), after almost thirty years of developing the beautiful gardens. Within the park are many cold-climate mature trees considered of horticultural importance. Two croquet lawns and a croquet clubhouse were added to the park in the 1930s. During World War II (WWII) the park was used as a United States Navy (USN) submariners' rest and recreation camp. The intact former mess hall is the only building remaining from the camp in the park. Since the 1930s, the picturesque park has been a major tourist attraction in Toowoomba and this continues today.

The Toowoomba area is the traditional land of the Giabal people. The area was surveyed and sold for private development in 1853 and named Toowoomba in 1858. In July 1865 the first section of the first railway in Queensland (the Main line railway ) was opened to Ipswich, and by April 1867 the line reached Toowoomba. In 1887 Toowoomba was proclaimed a town.

At an elevation of 700 metres (2,300 ft) above sea level, Toowoomba experiences cool temperatures throughout the year. The climate has enabled certain species of trees and plants, unable to be grown in warmer areas such as Brisbane, to flourish. In 1860 the town's first mayor and early pioneer, William Groom, had lobbied the Queenslandcolonial government for a recreational reserve for the town, which was eventually granted in 1869 and by the late 1870s had become Toowoomba's Queens Park and Botanic Gardens. In 1875 a curator was appointed and, with the assistance of the curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, Walter Hill, a public recreational park was established, as well as a botanic garden intended for experimental planting for scientific and commercial purposes. By the early 1920s the town was increasingly known as the "Garden City", due to the large number of beautiful and well-established private gardens, its extensive street-tree plantings dating to the 1870s, and numerous landscaped parks. Civic pride has been fostered by Toowoomba residents through their gardens and parks, reflected by the establishment of a series of garden competitions and festivals which took place from the early 1900s until the end of World War I.

The Stephens family were important Toowoomba pioneers. Samuel George Stephens (senior) arrived in Toowoomba from Wales in 1863. SG Stephens played a role in the town's progress. A successful businessman, he was one of the owners of the Darling Downs Gazette and a founder of the Darling Downs Building Society. Philanthropic pursuits included involvement in the establishment of the Toowoomba Grammar School, the Toowoomba Hospital, the fire brigade and his parish church. One of his major endeavours was the garden at his home "Llanwyn", also in Herries Street, considered one of the most beautiful in Toowoomba at the time, described in an 1879 newspaper article as "one of the neatest and most complete in its arrangements of any in Toowoomba". His son, Samuel George Stephens (junior), who was born in Toowoomba in 1865, inherited his father's love of horticulture. Educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, he joined his father's business, becoming managing director in 1909. He continued his father's philanthropic commitment to community and charitable causes including the Toowoomba General Hospital, the Toowoomba Cemetery Trust, the Toowoomba School of Arts committee, and as a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty.

In 1904 Stephens purchased two lots of land totalling approximately 1087m 2 on Hill Street, West Toowoomba. Over the next 12 years he incrementally acquired another 44 lots creating an area of approximately 4 hectares, and removed existing houses from the properties. By 1918 the majority of the block bounded by Hill, West and Herries streets was in Stephens' ownership. As the land was cleared, Stephens transformed it into an extensive garden which by 1934 was considered to be one of the most beautiful in Toowoomba.

As early as the mid-nineteenth century, there was a focus on the importation of exotic plant species to Queensland, attested by the establishment of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society in 1862 as well as several botanic gardens including the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens (1855). The foremost intention was to test the propagation potential of certain species that may be commercially suitable for Queensland's fledgling agricultural industry. Trials on ornamental trees for civic and domestic spaces were also undertaken and these gardens became places of passive recreation for the public.

During the interwar period, as suburban expansion increased throughout Australian cities, residents moved away from the crowded inner-city suburbs and into newly subdivided housing estates. A new focus on gardening emerged and the nursery industry boomed. There was a demand for both imported, exotic species as well as for native varieties. Specialist nurseries catered for this burgeoning demand. Stephens established his garden amid this renewed vigour.

For almost 30 years Stephens worked tirelessly in his garden, designing its layout and displays, and planting and maintaining it. He aspired to establish a garden that would give pleasure to people, rather than cultivating plants of commercial or scientific value, as was often the case in Queensland's botanic gardens.

Stephens imported a wide variety of exotic, rare and valuable tree, plant and flower specimens for his garden. Contemporary reports described the gardens in 1932, as:

"a comprehensive collection of rare shrubs and plants, Japanese and Chinese importations... there are 5000 gladioli, comprising 400 kinds, and 2000 daffodils, consisting of 30 varieties. The bulbs total 25,000. Beds of flowers and trees are picturesquely arranged among well-kept lawns".

As it developed, the garden was admired by Toowoomba residents and Stephens soon became known to many as "the man of flowers". In 1932, when asked to comment on Stephens' garden, the curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, Ernest William Bick, declared it was "the largest and most varied collection in Australia". Numerous species of oak, cedar, maple and palm trees were imported for the garden and many of these species were, at the time, considered to be very rare in Australia. Over the years, Stephens supplied the Toowoomba hospital with his flowers.

In 1932, Stephens gifted the garden to the people of Toowoomba as a public park. On 31 October 1932 the official opening ceremony was attended by Stephens, the Mayor, FJ Paterson, and several other dignitaries. The Mayor, on behalf of the citizens of Toowoomba, accepted the deeds, and his wife declared that "Mr Stephens had not spared time, money or experience in making the garden one of the most beautiful in Australia".

On handing the garden to the Toowoomba City Council, Stephens made several stipulations. The first was to have the park named "Laurel Bank" as he did not want it to be named after him. Another was to allow a portion of the park to be used for tennis, croquet or basketball; no sport, however, was to be played in the park on Sundays, Good Friday and Anzac Day. Flowers from the park would continue to be supplied to the Toowoomba hospital. At the time, it was reported that the improved property was valued at £10,000.

To memorialise this generous donation to the city, commemoration gates were erected by the Council at the entrance to Laurel Bank Park in 1934. They consisted of locally quarried bluestone pillars with decorative wrought-iron gates and two commemorative plaques. The official dedication ceremony was held in June 1934 and was attended by the Mayor, James Douglas Annand, and his wife. Stephens also attended and stated that "Laurel [Bank] Park was given to the people of Toowoomba for their benefit for ever".

The donation of the park was a gesture uncommon in both the history of Toowoomba and the state. Other parks and gardens developed privately and now owned publicly were generally acquired by the government, including Newstead Park in Brisbane and Thomas Park Bougainvillea Gardens at Indooroopilly. Others such as Myall Park Botanic Garden remain managed by a volunteer board of directors. Boyce Gardens, another Toowoomba garden property, was developed privately and donated to the University of Queensland in 1969; it is devoted to the propagation, preservation and study of native species, and, while not publicly owned, is publicly accessible. Stephen's gift differed, as the fully established park was a donation to the council; at the time, it was declared one of the most generous donations for Toowoomba and Queensland.

Following agreements with Stephens and the council, the Laurel Bank Croquet Club was formed in 1934 and was the third croquet club in Toowoomba; the two earlier clubs were Toowoomba and Toowoomba West. It was agreed that a portion of Laurel Bank Park would be dedicated for two croquet lawns and a clubhouse. Fundraising for the club began almost immediately with garden parties and fetes held in the park. Two lawns were laid by March 1935 and timber benches installed. Much of the work was undertaken as Depression -era relief work, provided by the council. The official opening ceremony in March 1935 was attended by Stephens, who was given the honour of striking the first ball, and stated that he hoped "the members would have much happiness and pleasure in using them". When first opened, the club had twenty-six members.

After much effort, funds were eventually raised to begin the construction of a clubhouse to the design of architect Matthew C Williamson. In October 1937 Williamson advertised a tender in the Architectural and Builders Journal of Queensland for "a croquet clubhouse at Toowoomba". Further fundraising through events such as bridge nights, as well as generous donations from patrons, enabled the club to complete the construction of the clubhouse. When completed in 1938, the new clubhouse was described as "a compact, cream-painted building, finished with touches of brown... it stands in a picturesque setting on green lawns, shade trees and flowering shrubs". The official opening on 7 May 1938 was attended by Mayor Annand, state ministers and aldermen, as well as Stephens and Williamson. Timber seats around the lawns had been built by 1936 and the creepers to shade the seats also planted that year. Timber fences surrounding both lawns were complete by 1939.

Toowoomba was considered a mountain retreat for those attempting to escape the heat and humidity, abundant in other parts of Queensland. From as early as the 1900s, the Railway Department ran an excursion train from Brisbane to Toowoomba and back for southern tourists arriving by steamship in Brisbane, on their way to holiday in the Cairns region. The one-day trips included a driving tour of the city's beauty spots taken by staff from the Toowoomba City Council. To re-invigorate the city's tourist potential a promotional campaign was carried out in 1931 by the Toowoomba Tourist Bureau "for the purpose of making an effort to attract visitors". The campaign proved successful and by 1938 Toowoomba experienced record numbers of tourists. The campaign included advertisements placed in many newspapers, both state and interstate, as well as a publication of a promotional tourist guidebook that was first published in 1934, "Toowoomba: Queensland's Ideal Mountain Resort". Toowoomba's charms included the cooler climate, scenic lookouts with panoramic views, and beautiful parks and gardens. Over the next decade, a guidebook of several editions was produced.

Laurel Bank Park was one of the main attractions featured in the guidebook. Stephens' generous donation to the city was always noted, as were the extensive and important plantings, "nowhere in Australia is to be found a finer collection of Japanese flowering plants... There are trees and shrubs in Laurel Bank Park not to be found anywhere else in Australia". In 1940 the Darling Downs Centenary Souvenir, 1840–1940 featured Laurel Bank Park as one of Toowoomba's most attractive parks.