Nambour, Queensland

A major service town on the Bruce Highway that is a centre for the local sugar cane and fruit growing industries.
Location: 101 km north of Brisbane; 30 m above sea-level
Origin of Name: reportedly derived from an Aboriginal word in the Kabi language, indicating the red flowering kurrajong tree, or alternatively, the white or red flowering Ti tree or the tallow wood tree. Originally the settlement was known as Petries Creek. Tom Petrie, in his reminiscences of early Queensland, 1904, gives the meaning as "tea tree bark".
Brief History: Nambour district was settled in the 1860s by miners disappointed after the poor returns from the goldfields at Gympie, just north. It wasn't until the arrival of the railway in 1890 that the local economy became focused on sugar production. A sugar mill was built in 1896. Nambour is the most southerly of Queensland's major sugar towns and, interestingly, the 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 - particularly macadamia nuts, bananas, citrus fruits and pineapples.
Natural features: Blackall Range National Parks; North Coast Railway National Parks
Built features: The Sunshine Plantation (The Big Pineapple)