Clifton (including Nobby)
Small service centre in the Darling Downs.
Located 185 km south-west of Brisbane, 57 km south of Toowoomba and 437 m above sea-level, Clifton is a tiny town with a population of less than 700. Like so many of the population centres of the Darling Downs it came into existence in the early 1840s when the government finally relented and allowed settlement to occur relatively close to the penal colony at Moreton Bay.

In 1868 the area was opened up for closer settlement and in 1869 the railway provided good access to the sea. Along with the rest of the Darling Downs the town prospered between 1890 and1920 with the success of the local dairy industry. The 1891 census recorded a population of 278 which had grown to 1227 by the census of 1911. Today Clifton serves the rich and prosperous agricultural area within which it lies.

Things to see:  

Nobby
Perhaps the major attraction in the Clifton area is the grave of Sister Kenny in the cemetery at the nearby hamlet of Nobby.

Elizabeth Kenny became a nurse in 1911. Her first nursing position was in outback Queensland where she came into contact with a number of children suffering from poliomyelitis. The conventional medical wisdom of the time said that polio victims should be placed in splints. Kenny argued against this. She concluded that the deformities caused by polio could only be cured by exercise.

In 1933, when an outbreak of polio occurred in Queensland, Kenny set up a clinic in Townsville. The results achieved by the clinic were sufficiently impressive to attract government funding in 1934 and by 1935 similar clinics had been established in New South Wales and Victoria.

The medical profession waged a campaign against Sister Kenny's unorthodox treatment and in 1938 a Royal Committee backed the medical profession. Kenny left Australia and continued her work in the United States. She subsequently returned to Australia and died in Toowoomba on 30 November 1952.

Nobby is also an interesting footnote in Australia's literary history. It was here that the famous short story writer 'Steele Rudd', the author of On Our Selection and the creator of the famous Dad and Dave characters, lived from 1909-1917. In a story he wrote in 1924 called The Handicap he recounted running a dead heat in the Clifton races of 1883.

	Tourist Information
	Clifton Shire Council 70 King St Clifton QLD 4361 Telephone: (07) 4697 4222
	Hotels
	Clifton Arms Hotel King St Clifton QLD 4361 Telephone: (07) 4697 3154
	Kings Hotel 50 Clark St Clifton QLD 4361 Telephone: (07) 4697 3288