Queen Maria of Childers still live in the Bundaberg region (Kamarangan 2012).
Bundaberg as a European township was founded by timbergetters Bob and George Stewart in 1867. The first farmers in the area, including Thomas Watson, arrived soon after. It was local resident and District Surveyor John Charlton Thompson who received the directive to survey a plot an area on the South side of the river. The city was surveyed, laid out and named Bundaberg in 1870. It was gazetted a town in 1902 and a city in 1913.
Timber was the first established industry in Bundaberg. In 1868 a sawmill was erected on the Burnett River downstream from the Steuart and Watson holdings. The Burnett Sawmill operated for over 100 years at its East Bundaberg location. It was the oldest operating sawmill in the Bundaberg area until it ceased operating on 26 May 2010.
Experimental sugar cane growing in the district followed and a successful industry grew. The first sugar mill was opened in 1882. The early sugar industry in Bundaberg was the result of the semi-slave labour carried out by Kanakas.
The naming of Bundaberg's streets was a job for its surveyors, of which there were three. Thompson was assisted by unregistered surveyor assistants James Ellwood and Alfred Dale Edwards. Edwards preferred using aboriginal names. Kolan, Woongarra, Barolin, Bingera, Kalkie, Moolboolooman, and for streets Tantitha, Bourbong etc. the later local Kalkie name for a large waterhole in front of the old Post Office Cairns Post 1910 P7 18 Jan W.A Dean. It is a common misconception that the main street was incorrectly gazetted in the Bundaberg Mail as "Bourbong" instead of "Bourbon" street and the name persisted. However, Rackemann conducted a survey of letterheads printed between 1904 and 1957. Up until 1940 the count for both names was near enough to equal, with in some cases companies carrying both spelling variations in successive years. However, by 1941 there is no reference to
