Western Downs Region: History
Baranggum (also known as Barrunggam, Barunggam Parrungoom, Murrumgama) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Baranggum people. The Baranggum language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Western Downs Regional Council, particularly Dalby, Tara, Jandowae and west towards Chinchilla.
Western Downs Region was created in March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in July 2007.
Prior to the 2008 amalgamation, the new Region, located in the Darling Downs region, consisted the entire area of five previous local government areas:
the Town of Dalby;
the Shire of Chinchilla;
the Shire of Murilla;
the Shire of Tara;
the Shire of Wambo;
and Division 2 of the Shire of Taroom.
The report recommended that the new local government area should not be divided into wards and elect ten councillors and a mayor. The report estimated that the resident population in 2006 was 30,018 and the operating budget was A$74 million.
Originally called Dalby Region, a name change to Western Downs was approved in August 2009. The name change was greeted positively by residents as they felt the name was more inclusive and a better representation of the area. The name "Western Downs" stems from the phrase Darling Downs, and as the name suggests; the area to the west of the downs.