Servicing a prosperous agricultural district that is also the administrative centre for the surrounding shire, Nanango is the second largest town in the South Burnett region, and the fourth oldest town in Queensland.

Location: 210 km north-west of Brisbane via the Bruce and D'Aguilar Highways; 345 m above sea-level.

None of the really early town buildings are left. The single greatest problem was that in 1940 all shops on the southern side of Drayton Street from Fitzroy to Henry Street were destroyed by fire. The solitary survivor, and one of the town's most interesting historic structures, is 'Nobby's Corner'. Located on the corner of Drayton and Henry Streets it was originally built in 1914. It is still a wonderful example of a solid, old-fashioned, country-town corner store.

The Fitzroy Hotel, which is in Fitzroy Street, one block off the main street, has remained absolutely unchanged since it was first built in 1913. It is a fine example of a pre-World War I Queensland country hotel.

Ringsfield Historic House is a superb turn-of-the-century Queenslander designed by the architect Robin Dods in 1908. It has been restored and is now the home of the Nanango Shire Historical Society. It is open from 9.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Devonshire teas are served on the verandah.

Tipperary Flat

Tipperary Flat, situated at the southern entrance to Nanango adjacent to Lions Park and the BP Service Station, is a well equipped picnic area featuring a walking trail leading visitors around the historic displays with informative interpretive signs provided. Adjacent to Tipperary Flat is an existing stand of Bunya Trees, a special icon of the natural and cultural heritage of the South Burnett, which acknowledge the original inhabitants.

In early days, Tipperary Flat was used for sports days and get-togethers with other families who lived close by and the name originated from the first settlers who came from Ireland. A walking track extends to the Tarong turnoff past Hannibal , the first Tarong Coal Dragline Bucket, and has become a popular pastime for residents, visitors and pets.

Surrounding Area

The Palms National Park

The Palms National Park is a small national park located between Cooyar and Yarraman in Queensland. The Park protects a small remnant of palm-filled subtropical rainforest and vine forest in a spring-fed gully in the headwaters of the Brisbane River. Birds, frogs, bats and other wildlife can be seen or heard when you picnic or take a short rainforest stroll. Take the Palms Circuit walk which is 650 metres long and starts from the picnic area. The well worn track plus boardwalks encircles the palm forest gully. Along the way you will not only see palms and figs but bunya and hoop pines, strangler figs and buttressed trees. No camping or dogs are allowed. The park is 8 km north-east of Cooyar along a sealed but narrow road. To get there, turn east off the New England Highway just north of Cooyar, 94 km north of Toowoomba and 28 km south-west of Yarraman.

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Cooma Falls

Coomba Falls is an exceptionally beautiful place, featuring a deep natural swimming hole and striking granite cliffs. The water in its deep plunge pool is icy most of the year, so it's the ideal site to cool down on a hot day. Located just a few kilometres from the heart of Maidenwell off the Maidenwell-Upper Yarraman Road, picturesque Coomba Falls provides the ideal setting for a picnic and a day of swimming and relaxing. It's also a lovely spot for photography and birdwatching.

Maidenwell

A small village that acts as the gateway to the Bunya Mountains (28 km from Nanango). Timber from the Bunya Mountains and its foothills was a major industry in early days of closer settlement when the railway line was extended to Tarong early in the 20th century. A massacre of Aboriginals reportedly took place at nearby Coomba Falls in the 19th century.

Legend states European settlers killed hundreds of Aborigines, including women and children at the falls. The place was a sacred site to the aborigines who believed the rockpool was bottomless hole. The surrounding area was used as a burial ground. Pioneer settler John King dug the first well in the district, hence the name Maidenwell. Maidenwell Post Office opened in 1906 (a receiving office named Pinpinbugie had been open from 1900) and closed in 1978.


Heritage House, Yarraman

Yarraman

Yarraman (21 km south of Nanango) is set in a fertile valley and produces timber, grain and beef and dairy goods, which it exports to larger cities. Yarraman is surrounded by the various components of the fragmentary Bunya Mountains and Yarraman Important Bird Area which contains the largest remaining population of the vulnerable black-breasted button-quail. Yarraman means "horse" in the Port Jackson Pidgin English spread by Aboriginal stockmen in eastern Australia. It is thought to be derived from the word "yira" or "yera" which means large teeth, possibly from one of the Sydney languages.

Yarraman calls itself 'The Hoop Pine Centre of Queensland as there were many large hoop pine forests in the area. A timber mill to harvest the hoop pine was established here in 1910 though the township had been established in the late 1870s. The creek at Yarraman was used in the 1870s as a place for local graziers and stockmen to meet and trade cattle. During World War 2, Yarraman was the location of RAAF No.21 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces.


World War II fuel depot site

The town's major attraction is Heritage House, the home of the Yarraman Historical Society. Heritage House was established in 1997 in a former boys' boarding convent - originally as a museum, but now also incorporating extensive art, craft, tapestry and timber displays. It is now also a terminus for the Brisbane Valley Heritage Trail. The Ted Pukallus Weir, located about 5km south of town, is a popular local fishing hole.

Yarraman has a rich timber heritage and one of its major industries is the Yarraman Sawmill (the other is the Yarraman Bacon Factory). There are a number of well-marked walking and driving trails through the nearby pine forests and the area is very popular with bushwalkers and naturalists.


Cooyar Suspension Bridge

Cooyar

A short drive west of Yarraman on the New England Highway, Cooyar is home to the Palms National Park, one of the smallest national parks in Australia. Swinging Bridge Park is in the centre of Cooyar, and within the park is a suspension bridge that crosses the Cooyar Creek. If you are lucky you may see Platypus and Turtles happily swimming around in the creek below. Major annual events include the Cooyar Show and Rodeo (held at the Cooyar Showgrounds each February); the Yarraman Horse Ride (held each March); the Yarraman Family Fishing Competition (held each November) and the Yarraman Christmas Carnival (each December).



Nearby Mount Binga National Park was established in 2006 to conserve the natural and scenic values of the area. The park was originally part of Mount Binga State Forest which still exists adjacent to the national park. The landscape is flat with some undulations and contains a wide range of vegetation types. There are no visitor facilities. Access via Cooyar Mount Binga Rd, Mount Binga. Mt Binga Outdoor Education Centre was founded in 1982 and is owned and operated by Immanuel Lutheran College to empower, motivate and challenge young people to discover their potential. Through hikes, camp outs, high adventure activities, farm life and meal preparation, students are given responsibility to be part of an authentic community and learn along the way.

Tarong Power Station and Meandu Mine

The coal-fired Tarong Power Station was commissioned in May 1984. The power station is the site for a pilot project which is expected to reduce emissions by 1,000 tonnes per year by collected carbon dioxide from flue gases. The project will cost A$5 million and is being developed by CSIRO. Coal is supplied via a conveyor from Meandu Mine, which is 1.5 km away and is also owned by Stanwell. The Tarong and Tarong North Power Stations source water from the Brisbane River catchment via a pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam. Excess water from the mine is discharged back to Meandu Creek Dam. The road to the Power Station passes through some very rich red soil which sustains cattle grazing. The Power Station appears to be located in the middle of paddocks. It is actually located next to Meandu Mine, which has two lookouts.

Berlin's Gem and Historical Museum

11 km south of Nanango (off the D'Aguilar Highway but clearly signposted) is Berlin's Gem and Historical Museum. It is typical of all privately-owned folk museums in that it has as much dross as it has genuinely interesting material. There are old telephone booths, antiquated petrol bowsers, strange tops of houses as well as an excellent gem collection. Visits are by appointment only. Location: Berlin's Road, Tarong. Ph (07) 4163-7145.


Blackbutt

Blackbutt and Taromeo

36 km south of Nanango is the attractive settlement of Blackbutt with its impressive war memorial and fine timber Uniting Church. Nearby is the historic property of Taromeo. One of the original land grants in the area, and one of the oldest properties in Queensland, Taromeo, established in the early 1840s, covered 200 sq. miles. Owned by Simon Scott, who used it to raise sheep, built a red cedar dwelling in 1850, later adding a stone store, stables and blacksmith's shop. Today it is still possible to visit the store which has been turned into a museum and the nearby private cemetery which is enclosed by stone walls. Unfortunately the original homestead is no longer standing. Contact (07) 4163 0142 for details. It is located off the D'Aguilar Highway between Moore and Blackbutt.

On Taromeo road there is a forest fire tower which, for the brave who are prepared to climb the 198 steps, has views which, on a clear day, extend as far as the Glasshouse Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Bunya Mountains

Bunya Mountains National Park is notable for the fact that it contains the last significant stand of bunya pine in Queensland. It is still possible to find scars on the surface of the pines where Aborigines cut footholds with their stone axes so they could clamber up the trees to get the sweet bunya pine nuts which are, by any measure, remarkable, being produced in cones the size of a football. Each cone holds around 120 nuts. It is estimated that some of the bunya pines are over 500 years old. They were regarded as sacred by the indigenous locals who came to the area for a bunya feast when the cones were ripe and the nuts were in abundance.

Covering 11 700 hectares, the park has camping grounds and excellent bushwalking. There are nine major walking tracks ranging from the 500-m Bunya Bunya track to the 10-km Big Falls Circuit Track. The trails pass through scenery which varies from rainforest to scrub and includes waterfalls and panoramic lookouts. For more details contact (07) 4668 3127. There are a number of guest houses and holiday retreats in the area.

Brief history: Nanango

The area around Nanango was first settled within months of the opening of Queensland to free settlement in 1842 with the establishment of three huge sheep runs - Taromeo, Nanango and Tarong. In 1850, Simon Scott who ran Taromeo, built a red cedar dwelling, part of which still stands today. The township of Nanango was established in 1848 when Jacob Goode opened an inn on the banks of Barker's Creek. Developed around Goode's Inn, Nanango is Queensland's fourth-oldest town. It enjoyed brisk trade during the Gympie goldrush, servicing the travellers to and from Brisbane to the diggings. Before gold was found at Gympie, Nanango had a small goldrush of its own when small amounts of alluvial gold were found near the town, attracting some 700 miners, many of whom were Chinese.

Around the turn of the 20th century, much of the pastoral lands were resumed, subdivided and sold for more intensive agriculture which came to include beef and pork production, dairying and milk processing, timber, small crops, grapes and olives.

Origin of name: derived from the name of a pastoral run, used by WE Oliver, in 1842. Taken from the Waka language, Nanango is reportedly the name of the lagoon near the run's homestead, two kilometres west of the present town. It was also used by Europeans to identify a clan leader. Nanango Township was originally called Goodes Inn.