As the heritage and cultural centre of the Cooloola Region, Gympie boasts a tradition that few areas in Queensland can offer. A city of 16,000 people, Gympie offers the warm hospitality of a country town with all the modern conveniences.
Known as the ‘Town that Saved Queensland’, Gympie’s proud heritage began in 1867 with the discovery of gold by prospector James Nash at the site now occupied by the Town Hall. At the time, Queensland was facing bankruptcy due to drought and the fall in wool prices. However, Nash made the five day journey down the Mary River from Maryborough and, after digging up 75 ounces of gold in six days, staked his claim. The Gympie Gold Rush was on, injecting the boost to the Queensland economy that enabled the colony to survive.
Distance From State Capital: 160km
Nearest Main Highway: Bruce
Nearest Airport: Sunshine Coast
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: cooloola, gold, gympie, queensland, town hall
The Glass House Mountains are found in the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. They are actually the cores of 20 million year old volcanoes, so that the sides of the volcanoes have eroded away leaving only hardened plugs or rock spires.
The Aboriginal dreaming story about these formations gives each of the mountains a name and character in a family, and tells a dramatic story of human relationships.
Captain James Cook gave the area its unusual English name while sailing past, on his way up Australia’s east coast, in 1770. From a distance they reminded him of the glass-making furnaces of his home town in Yorkshire.
There are both sealed and unsealed roads through the Glass House Mountains National Park, with spectacular lookouts over the surrounding plains along the way. An excellent day trip could include a lunch stop at picnic grounds, bush trails and rock-climbing.
The area around the mountains produces many tropical fruits such as avocados, pineapples and papaya as well as strawberries, vegetables, nuts and tobacco.
Visitors can stay in the area at the township of Glass House Mountains, which can be reached in about 20 minutes from Caboolture or 30 minutes from Caloundra.
Distance From State Capital: 64km
Nearest Main Highway: Bruce
Nearest Airport: Brisbane (64km)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: caboolture, caloundra, glass house mountains, queensland, Sunshine Coast, volcano
