Imbil Weir, Yabba Creek, Imbil, Queensland
Yabba Creek is a major tributary of the Mary River. The Yabba Valley is a green valley with native vine forests, sclerophyll forests and plantations of native Araucaria (hoop pine) clothing the plateaux, escarpments and slopes of the upper valley, and grazing and agriculture on the floor of the lower valley.
In the early 1860s, timbergetters came to the valley to fell red cedar, pine and hardwood logs which were floated downstream to sawmills at Maryborough (and later Gympie) or allowed to go to Great Sandy Straits and Hervey Bay where ships would collect the logs and transport them to distant ports.
Here on the Yabba at "Imbil" station, the Yabba had a 5km meander associated wit several minor flood channels across the pocket. This resulted in logs from upstream being stranded on the pocket during freshets and floods, so some of the men resolved to blast the neck of the meander such that floods would take the shortcut, erode a new cutting and allow their logs to pass uninhibited by the meander. The former pocket, then became Imbil Island.
As rail replaced floods to carry the logs to sawmills downstream, agriculture replaced grazing and Imbil Island became a productive agricultural area. During droughts, the water the farmers on the island needed for irrigation, no longer flowed around the old meander. Representation was made resulting in the construction of this weir in 1953, which raised the water level by 900mm ensuring a flow of water around the old meander.
Today the weir ensures an aquatic playground for children with kayaks, canoes or other flotation implements whilst proving a large area for swimming and diving. A large and popular riverside campground is found just upstream of this site.
Imbil Weir, Yabba Creek, Imbil, Queensland
Yabba Creek is a major tributary of the Mary River. The Yabba Valley is a green valley with native vine forests, sclerophyll forests and plantations of native Araucaria (hoop pine) clothing the plateaux, escarpments and slopes of the upper valley, and grazing and agriculture on the floor of the lower valley.
In the early 1860s, timbergetters came to the valley to fell red cedar, pine and hardwood logs which were floated downstream to sawmills at Maryborough (and later Gympie) or allowed to go to Great Sandy Straits and Hervey Bay where ships would collect the logs and transport them to distant ports.
Here on the Yabba at "Imbil" station, the Yabba had a 5km meander associated wit several minor flood channels across the pocket. This resulted in logs from upstream being stranded on the pocket during freshets and floods, so some of the men resolved to blast the neck of the meander such that floods would take the shortcut, erode a new cutting and allow their logs to pass uninhibited by the meander. The former pocket, then became Imbil Island.
As rail replaced floods to carry the logs to sawmills downstream, agriculture replaced grazing and Imbil Island became a productive agricultural area. During droughts, the water the farmers on the island needed for irrigation, no longer flowed around the old meander. Representation was made resulting in the construction of this weir in 1953, which raised the water level by 900mm ensuring a flow of water around the old meander.
Today the weir ensures an aquatic playground for children with kayaks, canoes or other flotation implements whilst proving a large area for swimming and diving. A large and popular riverside campground is found just upstream of this site.