Early days
Yandina and Yandina State School - 1860 - 1900
Early settlers used crosscut saws to cut down the cedar trees which grew so well in this area.
The arrival of the first white men in this area happened in the 1820's when ticket-of-leave men and escaped convicts found their way here. Some of them stayed with Aboriginal groups until they were later captured and returned to the Brisbane area. The knowledge that these early people gave the authorities helped Andrew Petrie in his expeditions in 1838 and 1840 when he named the Maroochy River.
In 1853, Daniel and Zacharias Skyring applied for and were given cattle leases, which occupied some of the present day Yandina and on to where Eumundi is now. Timbergetters came in after the cattlemen. With the opening of the railway to Yandina on January 1, 1891 the timber industry became more important and reamined so into the early 1900's. Most of the early selectors in Yandina had been early timbergetters. With the discovery of gold in Gympie in 1867 by James Nash it was necessary for a road to be cleared to the goldfields and this was done by James Low and others. The Low family became one of the early families in the district.
On 23 August, 1871, the town of Yandina was surveyed by Charles Warner and dated as done. Mr Joseph Buckle was the only bidder and buyer when land was put up for auction in 1873 so he became the first landholder in the township. By 1885 thirty lots had been sold but the only buildings were the community church ( Anglican Church) and one house. The first business built in 1887 was J.G.Sommer's Australian Hotel and two shops were in business in 1889. A committee was set up to help with the establishment of a school on 2 March 1889. Prior to this the children had had to travel two and a half miles from the river along the Brisbane Road to the Maroochy Provisional School which was approximately half way between Yandina and Petrie Creek (now Nambour). There were 12 children attending the Maroochy School, 10 were attending Fairhill School and 8 were receiving no education at all - so there were sufficient numbers of children to attend a school in Yandina. Other children were in the region but because their fathers were working men and may move on as work on the railways was moved to other regions they were not included in the lists of eligible children. The Yandina Provisional School was duly built and opened on November 14, 1889 with Miss Lalor as the teacher in charge. So the first school was 30 X 16 feet with 6 feet verandahs front and rear, and 2 cess pits at the rear of the building. The furniture for the school was made up of 1 clock, 1 chair for the teacher, 1 blackboard, 1 table and desk for the teacher and 10 desks for the pupils with backs and stools.
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