Bigambul is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Bigambul people. The Bigambul language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Goondiwindi Regional Council, including the towns of Goondiwindi, Yelarbon and Texas extending north towards Moonie and Millmerran. Texas sits on Bigambul land, the Indigenous people of the region inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to colonisation in the 1840s. 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 rather more famous dispute between the United States and Mexico over territory in Texas, USA. Land in Texas was open for selection on 17 April 1877; were available. Texas was connected by the Texas railway line from Inglewood in November 1930 with the town being served by the Texas railway station. The line was closed in 1994. 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. At the, Texas had a population of 693. The current Texas Library was opened in 2010 with minor refurbishment in 2011. At the Texas had a population of 1,159.
Economy
Farming is the dominant industry in the Texas region, although there is also a silver mine. A large cattle feedlot is located about 20 min from town. Part of the Goondiwindi Regional Council, Texas is administered from the nearby larger town of Goondiwindi, Queensland.
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, 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. 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.
As of 2013 Texas is serviced by two petrol stations. The Shell Branded service station sells both regular and premium unleaded petrol. The BP service station, whilst not displaying BP signage does accept BP account cards. The BP does not sell premium unleaded.
