Over the Easter break, we went away for few days. Usually, we go somewhere close to the beach, but, this time, we decided to stay a little bit inland and we found a nice place at Bilambil just across the Queensland and New South Wales border, about 100 kilometres south of Brisbane.

The great Tweed Volcano

Mt warning 1936
Mount Warning in the Tweed Volcano Region, 1936 [John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Negative number: 203615]

Tweed Valley, that’s where we went, about 20 million years ago was a huge shield volcano that stretched from Nerang to Byron Bay. The volcano attracted moist air from the sea (hence the Aboriginal name Wollumbin meaning “the Cloud Catcher”) and generated significant rainfall that washed away the lava, leaving large volcanic plug – Mt Warning (Wollumbin) and the semi-circular caldera basin.

The Aboriginal people of the Tweed

Our Aboriginal oral tradition tells a story of ‘Three Brothers’ who came to this land and its people in the ‘Dreaming’, gave the lore, and formed the nucleus of tribes with whom today’s traditional custodian descendants identify. [Tweed Regional Museum]

image from Tweed Regional Museum

Aboriginal people were living in the Tweed from at least 10,000 years ago. At the time of European settlement in 1840s, there were three main clans: the Goodbengurra of the Tweed Coast, the Tul-gin-gin of the North Arm (Rous River) and the Moorang-Moobar of the greater Tweed Valley. Each of these clans belongs to the greater the Nganduwal dialect tribal group. There are estimates that prior to any European settlers’ arrival each of the groups may have contained from 500 to 700 members and within 60 years of the settlement the number dropped to only about 10% due to loss of access to food resources, death from illness and disease, and intolerance shown by some European settlers.

First Europeans in the Tweed Valley

The first European information about this area is from Captain James Cook‘s journal. In 1770 when sailing HMS Endeavour up the eastern coast of Australia he noted the reefs east of Cook Island where he had some troubles.

Tuesday 15th May 1770. (…) this point I named Cape Byron. It may be known by a remarkable sharp peaked Mountain lying in land North-West by West from it. From this point the land Trends North 13 degrees West. Inland it is pretty high and hilly, but near the Shore it is low; to the Southward of the Point the land is low, and Tolerable level.

Wednesday 16th May 1770. (…)Winds Southerly, a fresh Gale, with which we steer’d North along shore until sunset, at which time we discover’d breakers ahead, and on our Larboard bow (…) We now saw the breakers again within us, which we passed at the distance of about 1 League (…) their situation may always be found by the peaked mountain before mentioned, which bears South-West by West from them, and on their account I have named it Mount Warning. [Captain Cook’s Journal during his first voyage round the world made in H.M. Bark “Endevour” 1768-1771]

In 1823, John Oxley was exploring the eastern coast in search of a place for convict secondary punishment. He then discovered the river which he named the Tweed river.

“The scenery here exceeded any thing I had previously seen in Australia – extending for miles along a deep rich valley, clothed with magnificent trees, the beautiful uniformity of which was only interrupted by the turns of the river which here and there appeared like small lakes, while in the back ground, Mount Warning (the highest land in New South Wales) reared its baren and singularly shaped peak, forming a striking contrast with the richness of the immediate country.” [Narrative of Mr. Oxley’s expedition to survey Port Curtis and Moreton Bay : with a view to form convict establishments there … / by John Uniacke 1825]

In 1828, Henry John Rous explored the northern rivers of New South Wales, and one of them was Tweed river – he wasn’t aware that the river was already discovered by John Oxley and named it Clarence river. Below map was drawn after this explorations.

Tweed River History
Great Britain. Hydrographic Department 1831, Plans on the East Coast of Australia, Made in H.M.Ship, Rainbow, 1831, Great Britain. Hydrographic Office, London

Early European settlements

Cedar cutters have arrived in the 1840s and established the first permanent settlement in the area in Terranora (originally Taranora meaning little river) in 1843. The logs of red cedar, were rafted down river to be loaded on cedar vessels bound for England.

1845, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 31 December, p. 3. , viewed 07 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1517475

The first farmers tried to grow crops like corn, arrowroot, and opium, but from 1870s sugar became the main crop. And at the beginning of the twentieth-century, primary sector gradually diversified into dairying, banana growing, and fishing. The opening of the railway from Lismore to Murwillumbah in 1894 established Murwillumbah as the major administrative and commercial centre of the Tweed Valley.

In this post, I write more about towns and villages we visited in Tweed Valley during the weekend.

Written by Maciek

Hi, I am passionate about history. I love discovering new places and learning their story. Wherever I go I find myself curious about stories behind buildings and places I see. At Everywhere History I’m sharing fascinating stories hidden behind buildings and places you’re passing by everyday.