Gympie

Gympie not only produced the gold that saved Queensland from economic collapse in the late 1860s, but it also bequeathed the state at least one Heritage-listed building directly linked to those heady days.

The old Retort House stands above what is left of the Scottish Gympie Gold Mine, which produced ore worth $4 million, and, at its peak, employed 330 men working almost 50 km of tunnels at depths of up to 762 metres.

Modern technology, of course, is allowing the town and region to relive the glory days of the 1860s with Gympie Gold producing more than 30,000 ounces of the precious stuff a year from mines which have been driven to a depth of 900 metres.

There are no facilities to take visitors down the shaft, but the company"s museum features a display and video presentation.

A major provincial centre servicing the beautiful Cooloola region, Gympie is an attractive, garden city generously decked with jacarandas, flowering silky oaks, cassias, flame trees and poincianas.