Withcott, a rural town, is eight km east of Toowoomba. The locality is identified by the Table Top Hill on the south side of the Warrego Highway, by which the area was known in the early days of settlement. The origin of the name 'Withcott' is apparently unrecorded.
Closer-settlement farm selections on the Toowoomba Commonage and other areas brought a quick influx of population, and the Withcott post office was opened in or about 1905. A primary school was opened in 1912. Withcott had dairying and mixed farming, and the village's main building was the hotel. Rural depopulation from the decline of dairying led to closure of the school in 1976, but repopulation was only a few years away.
The Queensland CWA erected a hall at Withcott in 1969, and five years later the first of several rural /residential subdivisions began. A progress association (1976) began lobbying for a new school, and when it was opened in 1984 there was an enrolment of 83.
Positioned on the highway a short way from Toowoomba, Withcott had an antiques centre (1983) and the Colonial Shopping Centre (supermarket and several shops) by 1987. A local newspaper, the Lockyer Journal, began publication in Withcott in 1986. Churches held worship services in the CWA hall, and the Catholic community and the Church of Christ opened their own buildings in 1991. About two thirds of Withcott's residents lived on properties of one hectare or more.
Withcott has a range of local shops and tradespeople, a pre-school and primary school, a hotel, a fruit and vegetable market and several road houses and petrol stations.
FLOODS 2011
On 10 January 2011 there were heavy rains over Toowoomba and the Lockyer Creek catchment. The Gatton Creek has headwaters on the Toowoomba escarpment (Redwood and Prince Henry Heights). Despite its relative height above the Lockyer Valley, Withcott was overcome by a flash flood from the Gatton Creek. Many residents had to be evacuated, some rescued from roof tops. The Warrego Highway was cut off to traffic.
Withcott's census populations have been:
| Census Date | Population |
|---|---|
| 1911 | 142 |
| 1961 | 101 |
| 1986 | 514 |
| 1991 | 697 |
| 2001 | 872 |
| 2006 | 1572 |
| 2011 | 1711 |
Don Talbot, History of Withcott and the Upper Lockyer, Withcott, D. Talbot, 1992
