The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 

  Fri 17 Mar 1865 Page 6  - TROVE

Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908)  Sat 18 Jul 1896 Page 1 - TROVE

Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908)  Sat 6 Dec 1884  Page 2 - TROVE

Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908)   Sat 17 Mar 1888 Page 6 - TROVE

…“Walloon was a station on the first section of railway line in Queensland which opened in 1865.  Guilfoyle's Gully near Walloon was the endpoint of the first railway excursion in Queensland, a 40 minute demonstration trip for dignitaries held on April 22 1865.

A non-vested school opened the same year, mainly for the children of railway workers.  Selectors began to take up land about 1866 and the population increased.  The railway construction had uncovered evidence of coal deposits and a mine opened on the western bank of Guilfoyle's Gully in 1877, the first of many small mines in this area.  By the 1890s, Walloon was thriving with numerous businesses such as blacksmiths, saddler and store.

Thagoona was also on the first section of railway but a station was not obtained until 1881.” 

http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/about_ipswich/history/suburb_place_names

...“Mining began at Walloon in the 1870s but the output proved to be of poor quality until deeper tunnels were dug in the 1880s. A former mariner Captain John Rea opened the Caledonian mine at Thagoona in 1889. Mining began near Rosewood in 1904 and has continued until the present day.”

 http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/9811/mining.pdf