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Gin Gin, Queensland

 

 
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Gin Gin, Queensland
 
 
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Gin Gin is a small rural
Rural

Rural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low populations. Today, 75 percent of the United States' inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, but cities occupy only 2 percent of the country....
 town located on the Bruce Highway
Bruce Highway

The Bruce Highway is the major coastal highway of Queensland, Australia. Running from the state capital, Brisbane, to Cairns, Queensland in Far North Queensland, the route is a part of the Australian National Highway ....
 in central Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, approximately 51 km west of Bundaberg
Bundaberg, Queensland

Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Burnett River, approximately 385 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane and 15 kilometres inland from the coast....
 and 370 km north-west of Brisbane
Brisbane

Brisbane is the state List of Australian capital cities of Queensland and its most populous city. It is also the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, behind southern rivals Sydney and Melbourne....
, the state capital. The town owes its existence to its strategic location about halfway between Brisbane and Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a regional city and Local Government Areas of Australia located in Queensland, Australia. Rockhampton is the largest urban centre in Central Queensland with the 2006 census recording the Rockhampton Statistical Subdivision population to be 74,530 people....
. It is often used as a stop-over point for drivers travelling between these two centres.

The Gin Gin district was originally settled in 1847 when Gregory Blaxland
Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland was a pioneer farmer and explorer in Australia....
 and William Forster moved into the area with sheep
Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
 and cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
.






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Gin Gin is a small rural
Rural

Rural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low populations. Today, 75 percent of the United States' inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, but cities occupy only 2 percent of the country....
 town located on the Bruce Highway
Bruce Highway

The Bruce Highway is the major coastal highway of Queensland, Australia. Running from the state capital, Brisbane, to Cairns, Queensland in Far North Queensland, the route is a part of the Australian National Highway ....
 in central Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, approximately 51 km west of Bundaberg
Bundaberg, Queensland

Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Burnett River, approximately 385 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane and 15 kilometres inland from the coast....
 and 370 km north-west of Brisbane
Brisbane

Brisbane is the state List of Australian capital cities of Queensland and its most populous city. It is also the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, behind southern rivals Sydney and Melbourne....
, the state capital. The town owes its existence to its strategic location about halfway between Brisbane and Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a regional city and Local Government Areas of Australia located in Queensland, Australia. Rockhampton is the largest urban centre in Central Queensland with the 2006 census recording the Rockhampton Statistical Subdivision population to be 74,530 people....
. It is often used as a stop-over point for drivers travelling between these two centres.

The Gin Gin district was originally settled in 1847 when Gregory Blaxland
Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland was a pioneer farmer and explorer in Australia....
 and William Forster moved into the area with sheep
Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
 and cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
. The site where the town now stands was once part of the sprawling Gin Gin Station owned by Sir Thomas McIlwraith
Thomas McIlwraith

Sir Thomas McIlwraith KCMG was for many years the dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland. He was Premier of Queensland from 1877 to 1883, again in 1888, and for a third time in 1893....
, who was Premier of Queensland three times between 1879 and 1893.

Gin Gin, like Bundaberg, is heavily dependent on the sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 industry, with sugarcane
Sugarcane

Sugarcane is a genus of 6 to 37 species of tall perennial plant Poaceae , native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World. They have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar and measure 2 to 6 meters tall....
 plantations dotted throughout the area. The Gin Gin Sugar Mill is situated at the nearby locality of Wallaville. An extensive system of sugar cane tramways service the area. Cattle production also features prominently. In recent years small cropping has taken off across farms in the district, with varied success.

The Gin Gin district is nicknamed Wild Scotsman Country due to the capture of one of Queensland's few bushrangers, James Alpin McPherson
James Alpin McPherson

James Alpin McPherson otherwise known as The Wild Scotchman, was an Australian bushranger active in the area around Gin Gin, Queensland, Queensland in the 19th century....
, in the area on 30 March 1866. McPherson, who went by the same nickname, was captured at Monduran Station, 13 km north of town. The Wild Scotsman Festival is held in Gin Gin on the third week of March each year to commemorate this event.

The name Gin Gin was derived from the original station name, which used a local Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
 word indicating "red soil thick scrub".