The first reported gold found in the Imbil area was discovered in 1851 by Mr Bidwell who was the commissioner for Lands in the Wide Bay. Many keen prospectors flocked to the area and set up their tents. A few prospectors did strike it lucky, but most did not. After a few months, there were no further significant discoveries, so many miners left this site (King, 2001).

In April of 1870 however, there was another gold discovery, this time at Imbil Station. Mr W Boyd, who ran the dairy at Imbil Station reported that there was a payable goldfield on the site of the Imbil cattle station.  Officials including the commissioner and two inspectors left Gympie for Imbil at 2am on Saturday morning. They arrived around 8am to inspect the site. Over three hundred eager men gathered around to see if there was indeed a payable goldfield. The commissioner asked to see a pan or two of washed dirt. So Mr Boyd and two other men started panning in the gully.  One of the men working alongside Boyd found approximately half a pennyweight of gold in his pan. Shortly after this, new sites were pegged out and around 700 men arrived at the site in July. This initial rush stated to slow down though, due to the cold and wet winter conditions and the lack of reward for the miners (King, 2001).

View of Yabba Rd from Meyers St, Imbil, looking south-west. Source: Gympie Library Photograph Collection.

By August, 80 ounces (or approx. 2.2kg) of gold had been found and was in the possession of one of the storekeepers (Gympie Times, 1870). This sparked more interest in the goldfield, so prospectors got to work and started digging mine shafts around Western and Breakneck Creeks, trying to locate the gold reef (Gympie Times, 1870). Many tents were set up in the area, including a butcher and a baker. There was even a vaudeville show to provide entertainment for the miners (King, 2001). The miners of the Imbil goldfield were hard workers and heavy drinkers. In 1871, Mrs Tredgold was caught selling illegal alcohol to miners at Imbil (Gympie Times, 1871).

There were also a significant number of Chinese prospectors who came to this site. They established market gardens between the gold diggings and the site of the present-day Imbil township (King, 2001).

By August of 1924, the mine warden reported that one million Australian pounds worth of gold had been extracted from the Imbil district. This report resulted in prospectors showing interest in Imbil again (Gympie Times, 1924).

 So in October of 1924, a mines department geologist named Mr. L Ball was called to inspect the “Old Imbil goldfields” to see if there was any hope of re-opening the field.  In his report, he stated that the leaders of quartz found at Imbil were very small in size and not rich with gold. He said that sinking the original shafts to any further depths should not be entertained. He also commented that the hard, unweathered rock prominent on the goldfields would prove to be very expensive to mine. And so with this advice, gold mining started to peter out in the region (Gympie Times, 1924).

While there have been further attempts at gold mining at Imbil since, discoveries have been minimal. Some old prospectors believe there is still gold at Imbil, but if so, much of it would be in the area which is now forestry land, so it cannot be mined (King, 2001).

References:

Green, D. (2020). History of Education in the Gympie Region 1867-2020. Gympie: School Archive Australia.

King, Joy. (2001). Imbil: Jewel of the Mary Valley. Imbil: Joy King. pp 1-244.

Gympie Times. (1870). IMBIL. Gympie Times. [Online]. 31 August 1870. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168852398?searchTerm=imbil%20gold [Accessed 7 January 2026].

Gympie Times. (1870). IMBIL. Gympie Times. [Online]. 17 August 1870. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168850541?searchTerm=gold%20imbil%20storekeeper [Accessed 7 January 2026].

Gympie Times. (1871). LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. Gympie Times. [Online]. 20 May 1871. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168854094?searchTerm=sly%20grog%20imbil [Accessed 7 January 2026].

The Daily Mail. (1924). LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. The Daily Mail. [Online]. 11 August 1924. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219048905?searchTerm=gold%20imbil [Accessed 7 January 2026].

The Daily Mail. (1924). MINING. The Daily Mail. [Online]. 11 Oct 1924. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219018819?searchTerm=gold%20imbil [Accessed 7 January 2026].

Post published on 22nd of January 2026.