Yabba on Yabba
Yabba is the name of a number of geographical features in southeast Queensland: a river, a major waterfall, a road, a street, a valley, a range, a mountain and a forest. However, it originates from an aboriginal name for this flower and the deciduous tree that bears the flowers.
A 19th century grazier, Alexander Swanson, took up land on a plateau about 120 kms NNW of Brisbane, and in inquiring of local indigenous men of the Baiyambora clan, what the name of the distinctive and attractive tree was, he was told "Yabba". He thus named his sheepstation, "Yabba". In the early years, there were various spellings of the word such as Yabber, Yapper and Yappa, but as B and P are not differentiated in their language this is understandable. The name became fixed as "Yabba". As Swanson's "Yabba" was sited beside an unnamed river, the name was applied to it and its valley, and the track from "Yabba" to "Imbil", the next station 45 kms downstream, became the Yabba Road. Over the 175 years since Swanson took up his "run", the property has progressively been broken up into several grazing properties and much of his run is now either national park or state forest. As a result of family inheritance "Yabba" has been divided into "Yabba" and "Old Yabba", the latter containing the site of Swanson's original station.
The Yabba tree, Brachychiton discolor, is a unique tree. It is an Australian native that is deciduous shedding its leaves in mid-summer. Further, when in flower during the period when it lacks leaves, the flowers drop from the tree around the end of each day, and each morning a new flush of flowers appear. As it grows in riverine forests, its fallen flowers are often seen floating on the stream. In this photo, the Yabba flowers are floating on a tributary of Yabba Creek.
Yabba on Yabba
Yabba is the name of a number of geographical features in southeast Queensland: a river, a major waterfall, a road, a street, a valley, a range, a mountain and a forest. However, it originates from an aboriginal name for this flower and the deciduous tree that bears the flowers.
A 19th century grazier, Alexander Swanson, took up land on a plateau about 120 kms NNW of Brisbane, and in inquiring of local indigenous men of the Baiyambora clan, what the name of the distinctive and attractive tree was, he was told "Yabba". He thus named his sheepstation, "Yabba". In the early years, there were various spellings of the word such as Yabber, Yapper and Yappa, but as B and P are not differentiated in their language this is understandable. The name became fixed as "Yabba". As Swanson's "Yabba" was sited beside an unnamed river, the name was applied to it and its valley, and the track from "Yabba" to "Imbil", the next station 45 kms downstream, became the Yabba Road. Over the 175 years since Swanson took up his "run", the property has progressively been broken up into several grazing properties and much of his run is now either national park or state forest. As a result of family inheritance "Yabba" has been divided into "Yabba" and "Old Yabba", the latter containing the site of Swanson's original station.
The Yabba tree, Brachychiton discolor, is a unique tree. It is an Australian native that is deciduous shedding its leaves in mid-summer. Further, when in flower during the period when it lacks leaves, the flowers drop from the tree around the end of each day, and each morning a new flush of flowers appear. As it grows in riverine forests, its fallen flowers are often seen floating on the stream. In this photo, the Yabba flowers are floating on a tributary of Yabba Creek.