Kilcoy

History

The Aboriginal people of the Brisbane River Valley and Kilcoy region are the Jinibara People, traditionally a nation of five clans: the Dungidau centred in the Kilcoy region and the junction of the Stanley and Brisbane Rivers; the Dala or Dallumbara clan inhabiting the Conondale Range west to the Brisbane River; the Gurumngar around the southern end of the D’Aguilar Range; the Nalbo along the Maleny-Mapleton escarpment and the Dungibara on the Upper Brisbane River. Duungidjawu (also known as Kabi Kabi, Cabbee, Carbi, Gabi Gabi) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Duungidjawu country. The Duungidjawu language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of Somerset Region and City of Moreton Bay, particularly the towns of Caboolture, Kilcoy, Woodford and Moore. Kilcoy was the heartland of the Jinibara People and the name comes from a patch of lawyer cane (jini) on Mount Kilcoy; 'bara' means' people' or 'folk'; thus Jinibara are the 'People of the Lawyer cane'. Kilcoy was known as Bumgur, meaning the 'blue cod'. The Kilcoy region is a rich Aboriginal cultural landscape. Mount Archer was known as Buruja, and also the name of a wetland near Villeneuve that was one of the main camps of the Dungidau clan. Bora rings existed at 'Wellcourt' on Somerset Dam and at Sandy Creek east of Kilcoy, Oaky Creek and Waraba Creek. The junction of the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers was known as Gunundjin, meaning a 'hollow place', and a sacred place, called Gairnbee Rock, recalled a dreaming story of a girl who went swimming there and was turned by her father, a gundir (clever man) by magic into a rock to save her from a dangerous evil spirit. The Stanley River was also called Gairnbee, meaning the water gum. In 1841, brothers Evan and Colin…

Geography

The township is on the D'Aguilar Highway, north west of the state capital, Brisbane, and just to the north of Lake Somerset. Rainfall in January 2013, another year of floods was .

Most-observed species

• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  1,230
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  1,157
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  1,001
• Eastern Whipbird

  Psophodes olivaceus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  949
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  915
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  870
• Eastern Yellow Robin

  Eopsaltria australis (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  841
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  838

Most recent

• M 4.9 — 2025-08-15
  12 km ESE of Cherbourg, Australia