Buderim, Queensland

Buderim is an urban centre on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It sits on a 180m mountain which overlooks the southern Sunshine Coast communities.The name "Buderim" is from the local Kabi Kabi Aboriginal word for the hairpin honeysuckle, (Badderam) Banksia spinulosa var. collina, which grew abundantly in the sandy country around the plateau.Early European HistoryIn 1862, Tom Petrie set out from Brisbane with 25 Turrbal and Kabi Kabi men including Billy Dingy and Wanangga to search for cedar in the Maroochy area. They ascended Buderim mountain where they 'saw forests of fine timber, then had the satisfaction of being the first to cut a cedar tree there.' Buderim was seen as a resource for timbergetters, as huge stands of Beech and Australian Red Cedar grew across the mountain. Some trees were so large they were wasted due to the lack of transport to carry them down to the river for despatch to Brisbane. Once clear felled, the plateau was used for farming. The rich red volcanic soil found on Buderim made the area particularly suited to growing almost everything, from bananas to small crops. The most notable were coffee and (in the 20th century) ginger, the crop which made Buderim famous. The farming pioneer Burnett won awards for the quality of his coffee at shows in London during the late 19th century.Buderim Mountain Post Office opened on 1 June 1884 (a receiving office had been open from 1874). It was renamed Buderim by 1897.In the middle of the 20th century the largest ginger processing facility in the southern hemisphere was built, and operated as the Buderim Ginger Factory until it closed and operations were moved closer to other ginger growing areas near Yandina.