Texas sits on Bigambul land, the Indigenous people of the region who inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to colonisation in the 1840s.[7]
Texas, at one time, relied on its importance of grazing. It was settled in 1842 and was named after the largest nearby landholding in the area, known as Texas Station.
The origin of the town's name is generally regarded as a reference to a territorial dispute. The land in the area was first settled by the McDougall brothers, who found squatters there on returning from the goldfields. Once their legal right to the land was recognised, they named their property in honour of the dispute between the United States and Mexico over territory in Texas.[3]
Texas Provisional School opened on 1 March 1887. On 1 January 1900, it became Texas State School.[8][9]
Land in Texas was open for selection on 17 April 1877; 140 square miles (360 km2) were available.[10]
Up until about 1986, tobacco farming was an important industry in the area and many Italian families settled the area to run and work the tobacco farms. The tobacco industry had begun to be important in the late 1800s. In the 1870s, Chinese workers began to be employed on the Texas Station to grow the crop for local use. "They were employed because they had grown their own tobacco before, so you use somebody who can already grow something instead of reinventing the wheel," local historian Robyn Griffin explained. "Smoking had become quite fashionable, and they would've also sold some of it to manufacturers."[13] Later, during the 1900s, much of the region's tobacco was grown in the Dumaresq Valley beside the Dumaresq River.
At the 2006 census, the town of Texas had a population of 693.[14]
The current Texas Library was opened in 2010 with minor refurbishment in 2011.[15]
At the 2011 census, the locality of Texas had a population of 1,159.[16] By the 2016 census, the locality of Texas had a population of 843 people,[17] and by the 2021 census it was 790.[1]
State Route 89, a road with two names, runs through the locality, entering from the east as Stanthorpe – Texas Road (Mingoola Road, Fleming Street and High Street in the town) and exiting to the north-west as Inglewood – Texas Road (Greenup Street).[19]
Farming is the dominant industry in the Texas region, although there is also a silver mine. The Whyalla Beef feedlot is located about 25km from the town.[26]
Part of the Goondiwindi Region,[5] Texas is administered from the nearby larger town of Goondiwindi.[27]
As of 2022, Texas is serviced by three petrol stations. A Shell Branded service station sells both regular and premium (greater than 95 octane) unleaded petrol. Similarly, a BP service station, providing regular and premium petrol. A Metro service station adds to competitive pricing, in addition all 3 provide convenience store items in varying degrees plus takeout food options. All 3 stations provide diesel fuel.
Education
Block B and grounds, Texas State School, circa 2022
There are no schools offering education to Year 12 in or near Texas (the nearest being in Stanthorpe and Goondiwindi). Distance education and boarding schools are options.[5]
Texas is serviced by the MacIntyre Gazette, Warwick Daily News and Stanthorpe Border Post newspapers. Texas is served by the Border Districts Community Radio Station 89.7 Ten FM which is transmitted from a 4 kW transmitter located on Mt Mackenzie in Tenterfield NSW.
After a visit to Texas in 2002, and being involved in a car accident nearby, American Country/Rockabilly recording artist Jason Lee Wilson memorialised the town in a song "TX, QLD, Australia". The song was included on the Cumberland Runners' 2004 debut album entitled Music to Haul By.
Previously, James Blundell had written and recorded a song entitled "Texas" as the B-side of his first single on the EMI label (EMI 2165), Cloncurry Cattle Song. On the single the writing credits of the two songs were inadvertently switched, but corrected on Blundell's debut, self-titled album (1989). Texas was composed by James Blundell and Doug Trevor, with Blundell and M. Hickson writing Cloncurry Cattle Song.
Lee Kernaghan also referenced the town in his 2002 hit song "Texas, Qld 4385" from his Electric Rodeo album released in 2002.
