Yarraman

Yarraman, a rural town, is 120 km north-west of central Brisbane. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal expression describing the kangaroo, or adapted to describe the horse.

The settlement began as a camping place for pastoral workers from the Cooyar station, situated to the south, when cattle mustering. It is on a tributary of the Cooyar Creek, and at the junction of the New England and D'Aguilar Highways. Farm selectors entered the area in the late 1880s, but a larger influx occurred after the Cooyar pastoral run was resumed in 1898. A school was opened in 1901. Extensive pine reserves were found on the farm selections, and timber harvesting became an important local industry. A railway extension was opened in 1913, putting Yarraman in touch with Ipswich and Brisbane. The year before the Queensland Pine Co. had opened a large mill at Yarraman, with a connecting railway siding.

Within ten years Pugh's Queensland Directory recorded four hotels at Yarraman, along with several shops and service businesses, and described the town as a farming and timber getting settlement. In 1935 the Yarraman Agricultural Society was established.

Hoop pine plantations have kept a continuous supply for local milling and the Department of Primary Industries has a forestry office in Yarraman. The roaring days of four hotels have passed; two hotels remain, along with two motels for passing tourists. A heritage society and local Chamber of Commerce promote the town's attractions, chief among them being several forest walks. Yarraman has a local shopping centre, a heritage museum, a showground, a memorial hall and a combined primary-high school. The railway line was closed in 1988.

Yarraman's census populations have been: