A public meeting was held to consider Queensland's separation from New South Wales in 1851 and in 1859 Queen Victoria gave her approval to establish the new
colony of Queensland.
Queensland now had its own Constitution and became a self-governing colony with its own Governor, a nominated Legislative Council and an elected Legislative
Assembly.
The 6th of June is now celebrated by Queenslanders as the day acknowledging the birth of Queensland.
On the 10th December, Queensland's first Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, officially proclaimed Queensland to be a separate colony from New South Wales.
Queensland was bankrupt and when James Nash discovered gold in the area in 1867, Gympie became 'The Town That Saved Queensland'.
When Nash struck gold in a creek bed, the Gympie gold rush had began and for a time the town was known as 'Nashville'. James Nash made £7000 from the
goldfields.
In 1868 Nashville was renamed Gympie, after a local stinging tree the Aboriginals called 'gimpi'. All that existed at that time was a mining shanty town with tents, many
small stores and liquor outlets.
Within months of the name change, 25,000 people were on the goldfields. Gympie was proclaimed a municipality in 1880, became a town a decade later and was a city
by 1905.
Gold mining continued until 1925, when the city then became the most important regional centre for having a rich variety of agricultural activities.
Gympie is now the centre of the Mary River Valley agricultural district in which beef cattle and pigs are raised, tropical fruit and vegetables are grown and an active
dairy industry operates.
"The Legend of Gympie (or alternatively "The Legend of the Yellow Stone") was first recorded nearly 150 years ago (c.1858) through contact with the ancient
Ka’bi Kgai'ya, Ka’bi Kgu'li and Ka’bi Kgu'thari clans of the central Mary River Valley region centred on Gympie City in S. E. Queensland long before full European
settlement of the area took place. At the time, remote station settlements had already begun to make ...."
The above excerpt was taken from 'The Legend of Gympie'. Read
more .... here!
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NOTE: There is a wealth of historical information in the Local History room at the Gympie Library. This collection consists of books, journals, photographs,
newspapers, microforms and family records.
The Local History Officer is available to assist with enquiries on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Gympie Library
8-14 Mellor Street
Phone: (07) 5481 0859
Website
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