Gympie


Gympie is a town and a locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Wide Bay-Burnett district, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River, which floods the town periodically. Gympie is the administrative centre for the Gympie Region area. As at June 2018 Gympie had a population of 21,599.
Gympie is famous for its gold field. It contains a number of historic buildings registered on the Queensland Heritage Register.

History

Gubbi Gubbi is an Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken by the indigenous peoples of the Sunshine Coast Region and Gympie Region, particularly the towns of Caloundra, Noosa Heads, Gympie and extending north towards Maryborough and south to Caboolture.
Gympie's name derives from the Gubbi Gubbi word gimpi-gimpi, which means "stinging tree" and refers to Dendrocnide moroides. The tree has large, round leaves that have similar properties to stinging nettles. The town was previously named Nashville, after James Nash, who discovered gold in the area in 1867. The name was changed to Gympie in 1868.Graziers were the original European settlers. Subsequently, James Nash reported the discovery of 'payable' alluvial gold on 16 October 1867. At the time of Nash's discovery, Queensland was suffering from a severe economic depression. Nash probably saved Queensland from bankruptcy. A memorial fountain in Gympie's Park honours Nash's discovery. The Gympie Gold Rush Festival celebrates the event today. The Gold Rush Festival holds 10 days of cultural events in October. Gold mining still plays a role in the area's fortunes, along with agriculture, timber and tourism. The gold rush's rapid development led to streets that are in an irregular fashion.
Gympie Creek Post Office opened on 1 December 1867. It was renamed Gympie in 1868.
In 1868 a slab hut was built behind the Northumberland Hotel and called the Miner's Bethel. This hut was used to hold religious services by the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church and Methodist Church until each had established their own church.
A Presbyterian Church opened on One Mile Road at One Mile on Sunday 8 November 1868.
In August 1868, Wesleyan Methodists erected a bark hut of pole construction on Surface Hill to use as a basic chapel. It was replaced by a more permanent timber church on the same site facing Reef Street, which opened on Sunday 4 July 1869. The architect was Charles G. Smith and the builder was John Nesbit. In 1890 a brick church was built on the site facing Channon Street and became the Surface Hill Uniting Church.
In 1869 the Church of England constructed a timber church on the corner of Palantine and School Streets; the first rector was Reverend Henry Jephson Campbell. It was known as the Church of St Peter. This church became the parish hall when a second church was built in Lady Mary Terrace in 1887. This was then superseded by the third and current church, built in brick, on the corner of Lady Mary Terrace and Amy Street.
In January 1870 tenders were called for the erection of a Roman Catholic Church.
The railway from Maryborough completed in 1881. The North Coast railway linked Gympie to Brisbane in 1891.
St Andrew's Anglican Church was first established at Mount Pleasant / One Mile in 1876. It closed circa 1968. As at 2019, the church building no longer exists but the rectory in Graham Street had become a private home.
A fire brigade was in operation in 1900.
The state declared Gympie a town in 1903.
A powdered milk factory began operations in 1953.

Flooding

Significant floods along the Mary River have caused inundations of the town in 1870, 1873, 1893, 1955, 1968, 1974, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2011 and 2013. The first recorded flood in Gympie was in 1870. Most of the floods occur between December and April and are typically caused by heavy rainfall in the headwaters to the south.
The highest flood ever recorded in Gympie occurred on 2 February 1893 when the river peaked at 25.45 m. Gympie was declared a natural disaster area during the 1999 floods. The river peaked at 21.9 m then.
Numerous highways and roads in and around the town which were destroyed or damaged during floods in 2011 was repaired under Operation Queenslander, the name given to post-flood reconstruction efforts in Queensland.
In March 2012, the Gympie Regional Council decided to spend about $30,000 for a cost benefit analysis on flood mitigation measures.

Heritage listings

Gympie has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
According to the 2016 census of Population, there 20,966 people in Gympie.
Gympie has a humid subtropical climate.

Attractions

The Gympie Gold Mining and Historical Museum houses memorabilia from the early gold mining era, as well as displays showcasing military, rural, transport, communications, and steam development in Australia. The WoodWorks Museum provides an insight into the timber industry and social history of yesteryear through displays and demonstrations. Features include a large selection of pioneering hand tools, a 1925 Republic truck, bullock wagons, and a blacksmith shop.
The Valley Rattler steam train is a tourist train that began operations in 1996. It follows the Mary River through the forests and plantations of the Mary Valley to Dagun. The train departs and returns to the Old Gympie Railway Station in Tozer Street, an original railway station from the 1900s gold rush.
Approximately 25 km south of Gympie, the town of Amamoor hosts the annual National Country Music Muster. Held over six days and nights in August in the Amamoor Forest Reserve, the Muster is the largest outdoor country music festival in Australia.
Gympie's Mary St offers a wide array of bars, cafes, and shops with 19th Century Victorian architecture. The historic Railway Hotel was built in 1915 and is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. The Gympie Town Hall Reserve Complex, built in 1890, was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 2011.
Mothar Mountain Speedway is Gympie's local raceway which hosts the motorsport Speedway A.K.A dirt track racing. Mothar Mountain Speedway is promoted by the Gympie Saloon Car Club Ltd.
The annual Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival is held in Gympie in March.
24 km south-east of Gympie, Woondum National Park provides access to subtropical rainforest, creeks and granite outcrops. Facilities include picnic tables, barbecues, firewood, fresh water, amenities, and bush-walking tracks. Access is by dirt road and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended.
About 30 minutes' drive east of Gympie is Tin Can Bay, where one can hand-feed Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins. The feeding is regulated for the protection of the dolphins.
Gympie and the surrounding area is part of the Great Sandy Biosphere Reserve, listed by UNESCO as a world conservation site.
The Gympie Pyramid is also a minor attraction.
Gympie Cemetery crawls are run by the Gympie Family History Society. Participants learn about the town's pioneering families.

Education

Gympie has many schools, reflecting its importance as a regional service centre. State primary schools include:
State secondary schools include:
Private schools offer both primary and secondary education. They include Victory College, Cooloola Christian College and St Patrick's. St Patrick's College in Gympie opened on 30 December 1916.
Gympie is home to one campus of the Wide Bay Institute of TAFE located on Cartwright Road.
The University of the Sunshine Coast has a campus in Gympie located on Cartwright Road. This campus offers undergraduate study in primary education, nursing, business, and commerce.

Amenities

The Gympie Regional Council operates a public library at 8–14 Mellor Street. It opened in 1995.
The Gympie branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the St Johns Ambulance Rooms at 20 Apollonian Vale.

Transport

Road connection to Gympie is via the Bruce Highway. Rail connects via QR's North Coast railway line, which is served by daily Queensland Rail City network services to Brisbane and Traveltrain services for long distances. There are few public buses in Gympie and automobiles are the main mode of transportation.
Gympie Airport is a small local airport located to the south of the town. It has general aviation, recreational aviation and gliding communities.

Governance

Eight councillors are elected to the Gympie Region local government area.
The Electoral district of Gympie in the state legislature was created in 1873 and includes Tin Can Bay, Rainbow Beach, Cooran, Pomona and parts of the Mary Valley. In 1893, Andrew Fisher was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as Labor member for Gympie and went on to become the fifth Prime Minister of Australia. Gympie's seat was eliminated in 1950 but restored in 1960. Since 1960, it has been considered a safe State Liberal-National seat having been won by the Country or National Party every election except for a brief period in the early 2000s.
As of 2015, Tony Perrett of the Liberal National Party in the member for Gympie in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

Traveston Crossing Dam

The Queensland Government had plans to build a dam on the Mary River at Traveston Crossing, about south of Gympie, arguing that there is sound geology and that the South East Queensland region needed greater water security due to the threat of climate change and population growth. The project was scrapped in 2010.
The proposed dam would have flooded about 900 properties. The affected land owners and other shire residents staged rallies protesting against the proposed dam. Strong opposition to the dam from the wider and international community based on environmental concerns related to the endangered Mary River cod, Mary River turtle, giant barred frog, Cascade tree frog and Coxen's fig parrot and the vulnerable Queensland lungfish, tusked frog, honey blue-eye fish, the Richmond birdwing butterfly and the Illidge's ant blue butterfly finally shut down the project.

Notable people