In the year of 1867, an Englishman named James Nash happened to wash a panfull of dirt taken from Caledonian Hill. He noticed traces of gold, and went further up the hill and discovered nuggets of gold. He travelled to the town of Maryborough to fetch some equipment. He returned and continued to find to find gold. He then reported the discovery to the police in Maryborough. This naturally was the start of the gold rush in the area, and practically overnight a community developed, which was named Nashville.

Local Aborigines had named a tree found in the area 'Gympi Gympi', meaning 'devil devil', because of the tree's nasty stinging nettle. And so it was not long before Nashville developed into Gympie. Of course in the mad rush, there was no time to survey a town, and it was not until 1869 that the first survey was carried out. Naturally, there were already buildings in existence, and so it was impossible to widen and straighten the main street. It is for this reason, that the street, to use a well known comparison, became 'straight as a dog's hind leg'.

Museums

The Gympie Gold Mining and Historical Museum is positioned on one of the goldfield's richest mines. The Museum Park has many interesting mining items, including the section of the crushing battery and a replica of a head frame. The fully restored steam engine, the boiler house and the replica elevated trolley gantry were the recipients of the National Trust of Queensland John Herbert Award for Excellence in 1985. Visitors get an exciting chance to witness all of the museum's operational machinery on one of about 4 times a year, on days known as 'steam days'.

Other points of interest at the museum include Andrew Fisher House, which was the home of the first Labor Prime Minister in Australia. The Timber and Forestry Museum is on the northern outskirts of Gympie. There is a replica steam driven sawmill which actually functions, and one of the main attractions, is the demonstration of early timber cutting techniques.

Natural Attractions

Lake Alford , Nelson's Reserve and Memorial Park are all within the city, offering visitors a chance to escape the city environs, and take in some nature. Not too far from Gympie are the Kinbombi Falls, where there are two deep rock pools, providing refreshment on a hot summers day. The waterfall itself only springs into action after a period of heavy rain fall, but the pools are there to be enjoyed on a more regular basis. There are plenty of walking tracks, including one leading to the top of the waterfalls.

Other Attractions

One of the favourite, and somewhat obvious attractions of the area, is fossicking. Permits are available, entitling visitors to go gold fossicking in a specially designated area. There are no facilities at the site, and only the bare essential tools for the activity are provided. This is in an effort to give enthusiastic fossickers a genuine feel for what it was really like for those early searchers of gold in the last century.

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