Queanbeyan Showground is a heritage-listed showground at 19-41 Farrer Place, Queanbeyan, Queanbeyan-Palerang Region, New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 March 2013. History In the 19th century names associated with Aboriginal groups in the district around Weereewaa (Lake George) were the Kamberri, Kgamberry, Nganbra and the Nganbra-Pialligo. In the 1820s the first Europeans travelled beyond Weereewaa (Lake George) in search of the Murrumbidgee River and "discovered" the Molonglo Plains. Severe drought during the 1820s impelled colonists to search for more pasture land and in 1828 Major H. C. Antill from Picton sent his cattle and sheep to Molonglo Plains. The town of Queanbeyan grew up on the lands owned by innkeeper Timothy Beard, who had a collection of huts on the banks of Molonglo River. The town centre later shifted to the Queanbeyan River about one mile east and was officially proclaimed as a township in 1838 with a population of 50. From 1861 onwards new waves of British and European migrants arrived in the district to take advantage of the Robertson Land Acts and take up small allotments. Queanbeyan Aboriginal groups continued to host regular gatherings and corroborees and began to align these events with the annual government distribution of blankets. Archaeological evidence and historical records show that the Queanbeyan Showground site was a traditional gathering place and burial place for Aboriginal people. Aborigines are first recorded camping on the site some time in the period 1846-50. The memoirs of W. Davis Wright describe a group of Aboriginals camping on lands in Farrer Place across the street from the showground. Records show blanket distribution took place in 1841, 1844, and 1861. The 1861 gathering took place in early April and is specifically associated with the annual distribution of blankets to the Aborigines in preparation for winter. A larger gathering is recorded in Queanbeyan in 1859 and another annual visit in 1861. The showground is specifically mentioned as the site of an 1862 gathering of tribes from Braidwood, Yass and Bland Plains. The gatherings of 1859 and 1862 which took place in June and April respectively were probably also connected with blanket distribution. Up until 1861 the blankets were distributed from the police station and court house located across Queanbeyan River; this seems to indicate the gatherings and camping took place at