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The
geological history of the area stretches back 420 million years
ago, when the Atherton Tableland was a deep ocean basin.
About
360 million years ago the region changed with sediments squeezed
upwards forming high mountain ranges. About 260 million years ago
violent eruptions and magma caused further changes in the landscape.
About
7 million years ago, vast amount of lava flowed form a number of
shield volcanoes, spreading over the landscape and cooling to form
a dense layer of basalt.
Volcanic
activity has been intermittent on the tableland for the past 3 million
years, with the most recent eruptions being perhaps as recent as
10,000 years ago or so.
Timber
Cutter
Geological
Features near Yungaburra:
Seven
Sisters and Mt Quincan: Volcanic cones created by explosive
eruptions. As air vents opened, volcanic ash and scoria (light weight
volcanic rocks with gas bubbles) hurled into the air, falling to
build up cones around them.
Lakes
Eacham and Barrine:
Explosive craters known as maars are created when rising lava came
in contact with the water basin. The resulting steam cause a violent
explosion , producing a crater. The craters have filled with rainwater.
Where the water is able to drain off, a swamp rather than a lake
forms. (Bromfield Swamp). The craters of Eacham and Barrine are
thought to have been formed as recently as 10,000 years ago.
MT
Hypipamee Crater:
Known as a diatreme, this crater is thought to have been created
by a massive gas explosion, causing a deep cylindrical pipe through
the granite approximately 142m deep.
MT Hypipamee Crater
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Yungaburra
was originally called Allumbah Pocket. The district was developed
in the early 1880's as an overnight stop for miners and settlers
who came from the coast on their way to the tin and gold fields
farther west. Shanties grew up along the pack tracks at Boar Pocket
(near Lake Barrine) and Ball Pocket (later the township of Kulara
which was flooded with the construction of Tinaroo Dam).
In
1886 the land around Allumbah Pocket and Lake Eacham was surveyed
for settlement. In 1891 the settlers moved in. The 40 acre blocks
were a mixture of scrub and open forest. Those who selected jungle-covered
blocks had to clear them by felling the trees and then burning off.
Homes were built of timber slabs, with roofs of bark or wooden shingles;
beds were sackbag stretchers and cooking was done over open fires.
The highest priority was to provide food. Maize, pumpkins, sweet
potatoes and other vegetables flourished in the newly cultivated
soil but crops had to be protected from wildlife. A pioneer saying
was " the soil was so good that when you planted corn
it would come up overnight - it did too, for the bandicoots would
bring it up". Eventually grass was sown and a few cows
introduced to provide milk, butter and beef. Often it was the women
and children who remained alone on their blocks of land while the
men took casual employment elsewhere to provide money for basic
necessities of living.
A
small commercial area was developing in Allumbah to serve the new
settlers. 1910 was a very significant year for our town. The railway
line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah, which
was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another town.
The new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from
the original settlement, which was located towards the north west
of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated
near the railway. A period of rapid development then began with
the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and
houses near the railway station. Three churches and the Bank of
NSW were built, the school was moved to the present site and a Police
Station was established.
Yungaburra
remains largely unchanged since those early days.
For
more information please contact:
Eacham Historical Society
PO Box 533 Qld 4885
email: eachist@qldnet.com.au
web: users.qldnet.com.au/~eachist
Reference Book:
'The Pioneers Speak' by Mary Allen, compilation of photographs,
quotes and information for the Yungaburra District Centenary, 1890
to 1990.
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Before non-indigenous
settlement, the Wet Tropics rainforests were populated with approximately
16 different tribal groups of Aboriginal people.
They were small
in stature with slender limbs. The forests were able to provide
a rich diet of plants, nuts and fruit, supplemented with eels, wallabies,
tree-kangaroos, possums, fish, birds and turkey eggs. Some unique
cultural elements that reflect features of the rainforest habitat
are dome-shaped, rain proof thatched huts that were used as semi-permanent
wet- season camps.
Train at
Yungaburra Station
Pathways through
the rainforest to pockets of cleared areas provided the routes of
travel and trade that formed the basis of their social system. The
cleared areas were thought to have been maintained by fire, and
the grassy areas providing food for the wallabies, part of their
diet.
At the onset
of white settlement, the system of tracks through the rainforest
were used by travelers, with the grassy pockets providing fodder
for the wagon teams.
A Ngadjon story
of the origin of the three volcanic crater lakes Yidyam (Lake Eacham),
Barany (Lake Barrine) and Ngimun (Lake Euramo) fits well with studies
that show the rainforests around the craters are about 7,600 years
old. "Two newly-initiated men broke a taboo and angered
the rainbow serpent, major spirit of the area. As a result the camping-place
began to change, the earth under the camp roaring like thunder.
The wind started to blow down, as if a cyclone were coming. The
camping-place began to twist and crack. While this was happening
there was in the sky a red cloud, of a hue never seen before. The
people tried to run from side to side but were swallowed by a crack
which opened in the ground....'
As the settlements
increased, the rainforest people were forced to retreat to the inaccessible
areas they lost the use of their full range of habitats. Tribes
were probably reduced to less than 20% of their pre-contact numbers
within 20 years from European diseases and conflicts with settlers.
For a more detailed
look at the Ngadjonji Tribe who traditionally occupied an area of
upland rainforest country at the headwaters of the Russell and North
Johnstone Rivers in north east Queensland, please visit this web site.
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