woombye

Albert Tainton, Woombye, ca. 1910

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Woombye, a rural township, is in the eastern foothills of the Blackall Range. Immediately south of Nambour, it is 85 km north of Brisbane. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word describing the dark foliaged lilly pilly tree or, perhaps, the black snake. Fruit growing, particularly pineapples, was Woombye's economic mainstay. A local fruitgrowers' association was formed in 1898. Pugh's Queensland Directory (1904) recorded Woombye as having several storekeepers, Methodist and Anglican churches, a school of arts and a sawmill. As lumber needed for Brisbane building lessened, a new market for timber emerged with thousands of packing cases for fruit. Pineapple gluts were partially solved by Woombye's local school teacher who organized fast rail transport to carry fruit to southern capitals (1919). Two years later, by local initiative, a pulping plant was opened in Woombye. Pugh's 1925 directory described Woombye as being the centre of a large fruit-growing district, producing strawberries, citrus, bananas and pineapples in great quantities. Woombye's identification with the pineapple industry came to the fore with the opening of the Big Pineapple tourist attraction in 1971, a 16 metre fiberglass structure with an internal staircase and a lookout. It closed in 2010 when negotiations began to sell the site to the Bowden family, with plans to redevelop it to incorporate their extensive collection of motor racing vehicles. Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/woombye