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GYMPIE - The town that saved
Queensland
Some history and a few photos from our
town and region - Please enjoy !!!
View from the Fire Station - Photo
Greg Weir
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Gympie is located 160 km's north of Brisbane on the East
Coast of Australia and has a population of around 17,000. It is also known
for being the town that saved Queensland, the Queensland economy was in a
bad way until gold was discovered in
1897 by prospector James Nash who had made the journey down from
Maryborough and dug up 75 ounces of gold in six days to stake his claim.
This claim by Nash started the Gympie Gold Rush which in turn boosted the
Queensland economy allowing the State to survive.
Photo of early Gympie in the mining days |
The Retort House - Photo
Greg Weir
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| Gympie was also home to Labour Prime Minister Andrew
Fisher, who was born in Ayshire, Scotland in
1862 and moved to Gympie in 1885. Fisher was active in the Amalgamated
Miners Union and became President of the Gympie branch in 1891, he
was also part owner of a labour newspaper called the Gympie Truth
which was founded in 1896.
Fisher was elected in 1891 as the first president of the
Gympie branch of the Labour Party and in 1893 he was elected to the
Queensland Legislative Assembly as labour member for Gympie. Andrew
Fisher became the Australian Prime Minister
in 1908, Fisher had three terms as Prime Minister and returned to London
in 1915 after being appointed High Commissioner in London, Fisher died
22nd October 1928.
Fisher carried out many reforms in defence,
constitutional matters, finance, transport and communications, and
social security achieving the vast majority of his aims in his first
government. These included such specifics as establishing old-age
and disability pensions, a materninty allowance and workers
compensation, issuing Australia's first paper currency, forming the
Royal Australian Navy, the commencement of construction for the
Trans Australian Railway, expanding the bench of the High Court of
Australia, founding Canberra and establishing the government owned
Commonwealth Bank.
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flickr.com/photos/68676385@N00/131285155
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The town "Gympie" is derived from an Aboriginal name for
a tree called the Gympie-Gympie tree. The technical name for this plant is Dendrocnide morodies, the Gympie Gympie tree or stinger has broad round
leaves that have similar properties to stinging nettles. The leaves have
numerous stinging hairs which can be very painful if they come in contact
with skin.
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| Major industries and employers in the Gympie region
include Nestles coffee processing plant, Smith & Sons truck & trailer body
builders, Nolan's Meats, Suncoast Macadamias, Laminex Industries, Carter
Holt & Harvey and others. Farming is also big in the Gympie area with beef
cattle and dairy, pineapples, small crops and aquaculture. Tin Can bay
which is about 40 mins drive from Gympie is a local fishing port, local
products include fish, prawns, crabs and scallops.
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Aerial view of Laminex Industries - Photo
Greg Weir
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Water skiing on Borumba Dam - Photo Greg Weir
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Tourists attractions in the Gympie area include the Mary
Valley Rattler steam train, the Gympie Gold Mining Museum, Wood Works
Museum, Rainbow beach coloured sands, Borumba Dam and Tin Can Bay. The
Gympie region is also famous for its events which include the Rainbow
Beach Fishing Classic and the Toyota National Country Music Muster which
attracts people from all over Australia and is held every August in the
Amamoor Creek State Forest. |
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