Gympie - Did You Know?

* Prior to European settlement the district was occupied by the Gubbi Gubbi people.

* By the 1840s European graziers had established sheep properties in the area. John Daniel 
McTaggart established the Kilkivan selection 50 km west of Gympie around this time.

* In 1867 James Nash, the son of an English farm labourer who had migrated to Sydney in 1857, discovered gold near the Mary River. Nash announced his find on 16 October 1867 and it resulted in "one of the wildest rushes in Queensland history".

* By 1868 there were more than 25,000 people in the Gympie area.

* It was officially named Gympie in 1868. Previously it had been known as Gympie Creek.

* The first flood of the Mary River during European settlement occurred in 1870.

 

* The town was proclaimed a municipality in 1880.

* The railway arrived in 1881 and in 1888 it had its own stock exchange.

* In 1891 the rail line connected Gympie to Brisbane.

* The town's worst flood was recorded in 1893 when the Mary River reached 25.45 metres.

* Gympie was officially declared a town in 1903.

* The gold mining eventually closed in 1925. By that time the city was an important regional centre for the surrounding rich agricultural district.

  
NB:Information copied directly from the Aussie Towns site which contains other amazing links for exploration!