GAYNDAH, QUEENSLAND

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The service town for Queensland's premier orange growing area on the Burnett River. Not to be outdone by Mundubbera with its Big Mandarin, Gayndah has a Big Orange. It claims to be the oldest town in Queensland.
Location: 366 km northwest of Brisbane; 144 km west of Maryborough; 104 m above sea level.
Origin of name: of Aboriginal origin, the name means 'thunder'.
Brief history: In 1843 Henry Stuart Russell entered the Gayndah region and became the first European to see the Burnett River. In 1847 James Charles Burnett surveyed the river which was eventually named after him and gave its name to the region. The following year the first European land settlement occurred in the Gayndah area. A tiny settlement known as Norton's Camp sprung up as a crossing point on the Burnett River. Its name was later changed to Gayndah. In 1892 a local farmer named William Seeney planted 106 orange and mandarin trees, a move to citrus fruits that was hastened by the realisation that the area was unsuitable for sheep.
Natural features: Burnett River; Duke and Duchess Mountain; Ban Ban Springs, 926 km south); Mt. Walsh National Park; Coalstoun Lakes National Park; Goodnight Scrub National Park.
Built features: Thomas and Charles Archer Lookout; Council Chambers, The Soldiers Memorial Hall and Town Hall Theatre (1935); Ellendale Orchard; Big Orange tourist information centre; localities of Coalstoun Lakes, Biggenden, Dallarnil, Ban Ban Springs; Gaypak fruit processing factory.
Heritage features: Gayndah & District Historical Museum (1864); old school house (1861); Mellors Drapery Store (one of the few buildings in Australia which still uses a 'flying fox' to deal with transactions)