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Shire of Gatton

local government area in Queensland, Australia

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ340103 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Shire of Gatton was a local government area located in the Lockyer Valley region between the cities of Toowoomba and Ipswich, and about 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. The shire covered an area of 1,571.8 square kilometres (606.9 sq mi), and existed from 1880 until its merger with the Shire of Laidley to form the Lockyer Valley Region on 15 March 2008.

History

Tarampa Division was created on 15 January 1880 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879, and its board held its first meeting on 20 February 1880. On 25 April 1888, the Laidley Division area broke away and separately incorporated, and on 25 January 1890, the Forest Hill area moved from Tarampa Division to Laidley Division.

With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Tarampa Division became the Shire of Tarampa on 31 March 1903.

On 3 September 1938, the Shire of Tarampa was renamed the Shire of Gatton. On 19 March 1949 it grew to incorporate part of the former Shires of Drayton and Highfields, while losing some of its original area to the City of Toowoomba and Shire of Crows Nest.

On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Gatton merged with the Shire of Laidley to form the Lockyer Valley Region.

Structure

The Shire of Gatton was divided into three divisions electing a total of eight councillors, plus a popularly elected mayor.

Division One (4 councillors)—eastern area, including Gatton.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Shire of Gatton” as local government area in Queensland, Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shire, Gatton and local.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1880, 2008, 1879, 1888—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Shire, Gatton and local providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Shire of Gatton”, the useful work is to connect “local government area in Queensland, Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q340103. Authority coordinates are -27.559, 152.276. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 2008, 1879 and 1888.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Shire of Gatton”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Shire of Gatton primary sources, Shire of Gatton archive and Shire research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shire of Gatton”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Shire of Gatton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.