Keywords: StateLibQld 1 96088 Lower end of Mary Street, Gympie, inundated with floodwater in 1870.jpg en Lower end of Mary Street Gympie inundated with floodwater in 1870 Shingle-roofed shops stand above the floods while street and verandah posts are submerged Gympie is a city in south-eastern Queensland situated on the Mary River about 162 kilometres north of Brisbane Gympie is the centre of an important dairying and agricultural district In the early days timber was a significant industry In 1867 James Nash found nuggets of gold in the bed of a dry gully in the district and a spectacular gold rush commenced Gympie was originally called Nashville after the discoverer of the gold In 1868 the name was altered to Gympie an aboriginal term for the stinging trees found in the district The discovery of gold proved the salvation of Queensland as at that time the colony was passing through financial difficulties The largest mine was the Scottish Gympie which worked at levels from 650 to over 800 metres deep and had underground roadways exceeding 50 kilometres in length In 1909 fifty-one mining companies were operating A huge nugget of pure gold called the Curtis nugget was found in the Gympie district It weighed about 18 kilogrammes The gold petered out in the 1920's Information taken from The Australian Encyclopaedia and Explore Australia 2003 Sydney Australia Penguin Australia 1870-03-01 handle 10462/deriv/74201 Item is held by John Oxley Library State Library of Queensland Mathewson PD-Australia StateLibQld-License Floods in Queensland Shops in Queensland Groups of people in Australia Roads in Gympie 1870 in Queensland Black and white photographs of Australia |