Tara, Queensland
Tara is a rural town and locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Tara had a population of 1,980 people. Geography Tara is on the Darling Downs. The town is at the centre of the locality. Immediately surrounding the urban area of Tara, there are a number of rural subdivisions of 'lifestyle blocks'. The blocks are usually between 13 and 40 ha in area. The population of the 2000 Rural Subdivision blocks exceeds that of the town itself. The Glenmorgan railway line traverses the locality from east (Goranba) to west (The Gums). There are two railway stations within the locality: Tara railway station, serving the town () Tullagrie railway station, to the south-west of the town but now abandoned () 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. The town was surveyed in May 1910 by Leonard Shield. The name Tara was used as the name for a pastoral run on 25 March 1852. It is assumed that it is a reference to the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland. Tara Provisional School opened on 23 January 1911 but was renamed Laurndel Provisional School in 1912. In 1915 it was renamed Burrowes Provisional School. In 1923 it became Burrowes State School. It closed in 1946. It was located to the south-west of Tara just north of the Glenmorgan railway line at . Tara State School opened on 21 August 1912. On 28 November 2004, it was renamed Tara Shire State College. It celebrated its centenary in 2012. Myra Provisional School opened in 1911 and closed circa 1929. It reopened circa 1944 and closed circa 1945. In 1914, a Methodist Church was built in Tara. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was established in 1965 by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. From 1978, the school has had a lay principal. Tara Library opened in 1987 and had a major refurbishment in 2009. On 14 March 2011 a blockade against coal seam gas development began at a property called Kenya near Tara. The following day a woman was arrested after she stopped the movement of a bulldozer working for Queensland Gas Company. The next month Bob Irwin was arrested and fined for participating in a rally at the same location. He was protesting against plans to build a coal seam gas pipeline. Local landowner Dayne Pratzky, now an anti-coal seam gas activist, features in the 2015 movie-length documentary Frackman. On 12 December 2022, Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were murdered at the nearby locality of Wieambilla. The two constables were based at Tara Police Station () at the time of the incident. In October 2023, 39 homes in the Tara region were destroyed by bushfires. Demographics In the , the locality of Tara