Yangan, a rural town, is 18 km east of Warwick and 120 km south-west of central Brisbane. Situated on Swan Creek in the Swanfels Valley, it was first known as Upper Swan Creek. The name was changed to Yangan in 1887, an Aboriginal word thought to mean going forward or upwards.

Farm selections in the valley began in the late 1860s, and a further intake came in 1880 when Danish farmers took up several holdings. Saw pits and mills were numerous, and sandstone was quarried about one kilometre out of town. Examples of the stone are in the town hall and high school in Warwick. In 1885 the Warwick to Killarney railway line was opened through Yangan, and dairying began. Ultimately two cheese factories operated in Yangan, continuing until the 1930s.

An elaborate timber school of arts was built in 1898. It was transferred to the Masonic Lodge in 1912 when a larger, and equally elaborate, school of arts was built. Both survive and are heritage registered. The railway closed in 1964, but the population was steadied by the subdivision of some large rural holdings. Proximity to Warwick also helped, and during the 1960s-90s the number of houses doubled. An extra block was added to the primary school (1874) in 1990.

Yangan has a general store and a hotel-motel, and its census populations have been:

Census DatePopulation
1911584
1954302
1996201
2006184
2011394

Alan Gamgee, ed, The Yangan and Swanfels chronicle: some history of the schools, industries and people of Yangan and Swanfels, Yangan, Yangan State School P&C Association, 1999

Claire Schofield, ed, Memories of Killarney and district, Killarney, Killarney & District Historical Society, 1999

Headwords: 

Copyright © Centre for the Government of Queensland, 2018. All rights reserved.

UQ Logo