Yamba

History

The Yaegl and Bundjalung people are the traditional custodians of the coastal areas around Yamba, Iluka and Maclean. The ancestors of the present day Yaegl people lived around the mouth of the Clarence River and spoke Yaygirr which was closely related to Gumbaynggirr. There is evidence the Yaygirr had permanent settlements and a developed material culture. Matthew Flinders (1799) described large bark huts with rounded passageway entrances to protect dwellers from wind and rain. Similarly Captain Perry (1839) described canoes of a superior construction. (See Eleanor H McSwan's 'A history of Yamba and Iluka') In 1799, Matthew Flinders landed on the present southern headland at Yamba. He'd been despatched from Sydney to find a new Eden, but from his vantage point atop a craggy promontory, now Pilot Head, he dismissed the turbulent estuary as dangerous and unworthy of further examination, and then sailed away. In the 1830s, timber harvesting commenced. In 1861, the townsite was surveyed, and by October 1862 construction of the breakwater Clarence River Heads Post Office was completed. Originally named Shoal Bay in 1885, it was renamed Yamba with a population of approx 340. In 1908, the Yamba Surf Lifesaving Club was formed and is one of the oldest surf clubs in the world. Yamba began to develop as a tourist destination in the 1930s following the arrival of the railway line at nearby Grafton. Guesthouses were replaced by motels and holiday apartments following the sealing of the main road in 1958, with visitors now able to use bridges rather than punts and ferries. Fishing and oyster industries were established in the 1880s, with prawn trawling pioneered in the 1940s. Sugar cane farming is now the major cropping industry in the region following full mechanisation of the…

Most-observed species

• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  1,479
• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  1,344
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,340
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  1,328
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  1,203
• Great Crested Tern

  Thalasseus bergii (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  1,138
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,002
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  991