Middle Ridge Toowoomba, Queensland |
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Coordinates | 27°36′29″S 151°58′08″E / 27.608°S 151.969°ECoordinates: 27°36′29″S 151°58′08″E / 27.608°S 151.969°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 6,561 (2011 census) | ||||||||||||||
• Density | 979/km2 (2,536/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 4350 | ||||||||||||||
Area | 6.7 km2 (2.6 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Location | 6 km (4 mi) SSE of Toowoomba | ||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Toowoomba Region | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Toowoomba South | ||||||||||||||
Federal Division(s) | Groom | ||||||||||||||
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Middle Ridge is a suburb of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, located 6 kilometres (4 mi) from the city centre. At the 2011 Australian Census the suburb recorded a population of 6,561.
Middle Ridge was named in the 1860s, as the area between East and West Creeks where the teamsters who camped at Toowoomba turned their teams loose to graze.
The suburb contains a primary school, Middle Ridge State School. Several sporting facilities are also located in Middle Ridge: the Echo Valley Motor Sport Complex (home to the Toowoomba Auto Club and Toowoomba Motocross Club), the Valleys rugby league club, and Toowoomba Golf Club.
Middle Ridge is home to the heritage-listed Gabbinbar homestead.
Between 1958 and 1961 three motor racing events took place at Middle Ridge, to coincide with the 'Carnival of the Flowers' in September. A rectangular circuit using Stenner Street-Mackenzie Street-Alderley Street-Rowbotham Street was run in an anti-clockwise direction. There have been several reasons given why racing stopped after 1961 - local farmers claimed that the races stopped their chickens laying eggs; the carnival organisers believed that loud racing engines were incompatible with flowers; or that the races were pulling spectators away from other Carnival events.