Theodore
Postcode: 4719
Theodore is a town in Queensland, Australia, situated on the Dawson River. The town – like the Canberra suburb – is named in honour of Labor politician Ted Theodore, Premier of Queensland (1919–1925) and Treasurer of Australia in the ministry of Prime Minister James Scullin (1929–1931). Theodore is located just off the Leichhardt Highway 565km north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. The town’s economy is closely linked to coal mining – Theodore is at the southern end of Queensland’s coal-rich Bowen Basin. At the 2001 census, Theodore had a population of 453.
Theodore is located within the Banana Shire local government area.
Urban legend states that Theodore was designed by Walter Burley Griffin before he set on his task of designing the nation’s capital, however this is not the case. The huge roundabout (The Bull Ring) in the centre of town is held up a great example of Burley Griffin’s design.
A small grain and cotton town in the Dawson River Valley, Theodore was named for union leader, Queensland Premier and Federal Treasurer Edward (Red Ted) Theodore. The signature that sets it apart from other valley towns are the palms and tropical bushes planted in the late 1920s when the town was the service centre for the Valley Irrigation Scheme. There are fish to be caught in the Glebe Weir, which also attracts its share of water-skiers, while the Theodore Folk Museum captures more than 100 years of history in photographs, artefacts and agricultural memorabilia. Nearby Ilsa Gorge, with its picnic grounds off the Leichhardt Highway route to Taroom, presents sandstone shapes sculpted by wind and rain over millions of years. Lookouts on the Malakoff Range just north of Theodore present outstanding views of the Dawson Valley.