The name
Brooweena is believed to be an Aboriginal word meaning
crab. The town was established following the arrival of the
Mungar Junction to Monto Branch Railway in 1889. Brooweena Post Office opened on 23 December 1889. Braemar Provisional School opened on 21 January 1901. It closed in 1922 due to low attendances. It reopened in 1924 and closed on 1 July 1935 and the students were transferred to the newly opened Woocoo State School (which closed in 1961). Braemar is the name of a pastoral property south of Brooweena. Brooweena Provisional School opened on 21 March 1904; the first teacher was Eugenie Eveline Hay. It was upgraded to a State School in 1909. Elizabeth Mary Thomas née Eaton, formerly Mrs B J Nichols, donated land from the property
Clifton for a church and cemetery. Subscription towards the building fund were made on the understanding that the church was dedicated in the name of
St Mary to the memory of Woocoo Shire soldiers
killed in action in
World War I. Opening services of the St Mary's Anglican Church were held on 26 October 1919. The church was built by Matthew Edmund Rooney of
Maryborough. The church is variously described as being located at Boompa, Brooweena, or Teebar. In 1922, the residents of the
Woocoo Shire erected a war memorial outside St Mary's Church of England on the Maryborough-Biggenden Road at
Teebar (now within
Boompa). In 1992 the memorial was relocated to the Woocoo Historical Museum in Brooweena on the north-western corner of Lahey Street and Smith Street () due to concerns about vandalism. It is now known as the
Brooweena War Memorial. A timber mill was established in 1924, ensuring the continuing existence of the town by being its major employer. The mill was destroyed in a fire in 1988 and was rebuilt by local people. On Thursday 28 November 2013 the mill closed as it was no longer compliant with modern safety standards and the cost of modernising the mill would be millions of dollars. After Robertson Bros Sawmills sold the Brooweena mill to Ken Hall, it was reopened in 2017. Idalia Provisional School opened on 20 July 1931 and closed on 16 April 1939. The town set an unofficial record in 2009 when 134 people simultaneously played the
lagerphone. == Demographics ==