The town grew around a once-successful gold mine which is claimed to have pulled the state of Queensland (then faced with widespread unemployment and the closure of at least two Brisbane banks) out of financial disaster.
Gold was discovered in Gympie in 1867 and led to Queensland's first gold rush. The Gympie area was to produce more than 99 million grams of gold.
Gympie then and now
Gympie was proclaimed a muncipality in 1880, became a town a decade later and a city in 1905. The railway reached Gympie in 1881. By 1888 the town had its own stock exchange. Gold mining continued until 1925.
Gympie today is the centre of Queensland's Mary River Valley agricultural district with cattle stations, pig farms, fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, and an active dairy industry.
Originally Bruce Highway passed through the town centre but when the highway was shifted to bypass the town, one has to watch for the highway turnoff into Gympie town.
Festivals and other attractions
One of Australia's biggest country music festivals, the Country Music Muster, is held at Gympie's Amamoor Creek State Forest Park every year in August. In October, Gympie holds its week-long Gympie Gold Rush Festival which includes competitions in gold panning and rock drilling, and a twilight street procession.
Gympie attractions include museums such as the Gold and Mining Museum and Wodworks Forestry and Timber Museum, historic buildings such as the Gympie Court House and the Australian Hotel, scheduled horse racing at the Gympie Turf Club racecourse, and pleasant beaches are not far away.
And if you're going to Murphy's Convenience Store by horse, yes, there's a tethering ring for your mount, a relic of times gone by.
