Tregony, Queensland

Tregony Queensland
Allan Cunningham monument, Cunningham's Gap, 2009
Tregony
Coordinates	28°03′04″S 152°21′16″E / 28.05111°S 152.35444°E / -28.05111; 152.35444Coordinates: 28°03′04″S 152°21′16″E / 28.05111°S 152.35444°E / -28.05111; 152.35444
Postcode(s)	4370
Location	42.7 km (27 mi) NE of Warwick, Queensland 76.7 km (48 mi) SW of Ipswich, Queensland 116 km (72 mi) SW of Brisbane
LGA(s)	Southern Downs Region
State electorate(s)	Southern Downs
Federal Division(s)	Maranoa
Suburbs around Tregony: North Branch North Branch Tarome Maryvale Tregony Clumber Swanfels Swanfels Clumber

Tregony is a locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the major gateways to the Darling Downs from the Queensland coast.

The eastern part of Tregony is the Main Range National Park on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range (rising up to 1160 metres). From there Gap Creek rises and flows west, eventually becoming a tributary of Glengallan Creek, then the Condamine River and eventually the Murray-Darling River through New South Wales and South Australia.

The Cunningham Highway coming from Tarome to the east crosses the range at Cunningham's Gap (elevation 790 metres) on the eastern boundary of the locality and then runs from east to west through the locality running roughly parallel and south of Gap Creek falling to 590 metres elevation on the western boundary. The land in the western part of the locality is flatter and used for farming.

Although not called Tregony at that time, the area was of great interest to early explorers. The Darling Downs was seen as having great agricultural protential but initial access to the area was via an overland route through inland New South Wales, which would create an unreasonable time and cost barrier for trade. A faster route was needed to the coast, preferably via the newly developing towns of Ipswich and Brisbane, which were linked by the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers to Moreton Bay and then by sea to other parts of Australia and overseas. However, the Great Dividing Range separated the Darling Downs from the coast. On 11 June 1827, Allan Cunningham approaching from the Darling Downs identified a possible dray route (later known as Spicer's Gap) across the range. On 21 August 1828, travelling from Ipswich, Cunningham found a second pass, now known as Cunningham's Gap, but he thought (wrongly) that it was the same pass as he had found in 1827, but Cunningham's Gap is about 4 km north of Spicer's Gap. Cunningham reported to the New South Wales Government that the route should be via Cunningham's Gap.