Nambour - Did You Know?

*The town that grew up in the area around 1870 was known as Petrie's Creek. It was renamed Nambour in 1891. The name, a local Aboriginal word (Naamba) meant red flowering tea-tree (Callistemon viminalis) or its bark. It had been the name given to the first cattle station in the district which had been selected by William Samwell in 1870.

 

 *Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was occupied by people from the Gubbi Gubbi Aboriginal language group.
 
* The first settler in the area was Matthew Carroll who selected 40 ha in January 1870.

* Carroll was followed two months later by William Samwell who selected 658 ha which he called Nambour. And later in 1870 a third selection was made by Henry Hootan but it was forfeited in 1872.

* In 1884 Mathew Carroll opened the Tullababa Hotel

* In 1885 the Tullababa Hotel became a post office branch with Carroll as the postmaster. By this time two sawmills were operating in the area.

* In 1886 the Sylvannia School was opened.

* The town was officially subdivided in 1889.

* The railway reached the town in 1890 and was officially opened in 1891. 

*Blocks were subdivided & new settlers commenced clearing the land to grow fruit, sugarcane & farm produce.

* The Moreton Central Sugar Mill Company was formed in Nambour in 1894.

* A sugar mill was built in 1896.

* In 1913 the first town library was built.

* In 1917 the first rural school was built in Queensland.

* During 1924 17 buildings in the town were destroyed by fire.

* Electricity reached the town in 1927.

* October 1929 saw the Town Hall and Town Library destroyed by fire.

* By 1930 the town had its own hospital - the Maroochy District Hospital.

* By the 1960s the district had been renamed the Sunshine Coast.

* Cane was still cut by hand in the area as recently as the 1970s. This was only because of the hilly terrain which was not suitable for cane-cutting machines.

* In recent times the agricultural base of the area has expanded to include a variety of tropical crops - macadamia nuts, bananas, citrus fruits and pineapples.


NB:Information copied directly from the Aussie Towns site which contains other amazing links for exploration! Click on the "Underbelly" label for local legend and lore....