Gayndah is a town and locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Gayndah had a population of 1,981 people. It is the administrative centre for the North Burnett Region. Geography Gayndah is on the Burnett River and the Burnett Highway passes through the town. Apart from the town in the western part of the locality, the land is used for cropping and grazing. The Gayndah railway station is located on the north side of the river and is on the Mungar Junction to Monto Branch railway line. Duchess Mountain is immediately to the south-west of the town () and at provides excellent views over the town ( above sea level). Gayndah is north of the state capital, Brisbane, and west of the regional city of Maryborough. Agriculture and grazing have been the dominant industries of the area. The town is the centre of Queensland's largest citrus-growing area. History The name Gayndah is of Aboriginal origin but the derivative is unclear. It may derive either from Gu-in-dah (or Gi-un-dah), meaning thunder, or from Ngainta meaning place of scrub. Alternatively it may be derived from Waka language kunda meaning range or ridge, or ga-een-ta meaning bushy land. Wakka Wakka (Waka Waka, Wocca Wocca, Wakawaka) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Burnett River catchment. The Wakka Wakka language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the North and South Burnett Regional Council, particularly the towns of Gayndah, Cherbourg, Murgon, Kingaroy, Eidsvold and Mundubbera. The well-known "Wetheron" property, 12 miles from Gayndah, was taken up by William Humphrey in 1845, and from him it passed to the Hons. Berkeley Basil and Seymour Moreton, sons of the Earl of Ducie. When the foundations of Gayndah were being laid there were only a few squatters on the Burnett River, and these were nearly all educated men of good families with command of money and the confidence of the banks and financial institutions. Exploration of the Gayndah area began in 1847 by explorer Thomas Archer and Surveyor James Charles Burnett (1815-1854). The first European settlers arrived in 1848, and the town was established in the following year. A post office was established at Gayndah in 1850. This suggests that Gayndah may be the oldest officially gazetted town in Queensland, although the Moreton Bay penal colony of 47 people was established at Redcliffe on Moreton Bay in 1824 but