 Shell middens in the limestone cliffs to the east of the town indicate that aboriginals had lived in the area for over 2300 years.European settlement took place in the area when Lieutenant Andrew Baxter and his wife Annie Baxter squatted the Yambuck pastoral run in 1843.Significant racial conflict between aboriginals and Europeans occurred around Yambuk at the time - some of the most violent clashes of the western district taking place near the Shaw river and the Eumeralla River.