The Land
Nalbo Place, West Woombye
Our Living Foundation
At the heart of Yarn and Yield is a living, breathing place—a piece of land in West Woombye called Nalbo Place that grounds our work, holds our dreams, and invites us into deeper relationship with life itself. This is not just where we work—it’s where we listen, learn, and grow. Woombye( Wumbai) means place of black snake or (wanbai) black myrtle or axe handle made from black myrtle.
We believe that regeneration begins with connection to land. It is the soil that teaches us patience, the creek that shows us how to flow, the trees that remind us to reach and root at the same time. The land is not a backdrop to our mission—it is our guide. It teaches us how to build systems that are cyclical, not extractive. How to care before we consume. How to live in reciprocity, not just sustainability.
This place in West Woombye is our living foundation. Every branch of Yarn and Yield—Connection, Knowledge and Practice —take root here. It’s where we plant ideas and see them grow. Where workshops unfold in the open air, where food is grown and shared, where children play and elders rest, where the work of care is not hidden but honoured.
We are students of this place. Its changing seasons shape our rhythm. Its needs shape our stewardship. Its gifts shape our gratitude.
We walk gently here—with reverence for the First Peoples, the Nalbo tribe who have cared for this land since time immemorial, and with a responsibility to tend it in ways that honour its past, protect its present, and seed its future.
This land nourishes us, and in return, we offer it our care.
It is the living thread that weaves everything we do.
Triunia Environmental Reserve
Nalbo Place backs onto the Triunia Environmental Reserve. An essential piece of land, purchased on behalf of Sunshine Coast ratepayers through the Environmental Levy.
Established in 1994, Triunia National Park spans 33.99 hectares and is located in the South East Queensland bioregion.
Triunia Environmental Reserve contains one of the few remaining rainforest patches of this type on the Sunshine Coast, and it has extremely high conservation significance, with four species listed as endangered, six as vulnerable, and three as near threatened. 141 native fauna species, including 29 significant species.
It was home to the Nalbo clan, belonging to the Gubbi Gubbi language group and to the Jinibara people. A small community across the Glasshouse Mountains known as the ‘rainforest people’. The Nalbo territory was bordered to the east by the Undanbi people who lived along the coast near the Mooloolah River, and to the west by the Dallambara people. Tribal boundaries were often marked by carvings in trees.
The Nalbo were part of a matrilineal society, traced through the mother’s line, that hunted on ranges, fished rivers, and gathered seafood. They utilised the bunya pine forests for significant cultural gatherings, including feasts at Baroon Pocket, where they exchanged stories, arranged marriages, and resolved conflicts. Evidence such as stone axe heads found in Mapleton forest and burial sites indicates Aboriginal settlement in the region for at least 40,000 years.
The last full-blooded Nalbo man, Richard ‘Dickie’ Nalbo, was taken from the area in the early 1900s. The Nalbo tribe’s history is preserved at Nungeena, a sanctuary for Aboriginal women located at the foot of Mount Beerwah.
In the late 1850s, the region was opened to European settlement and initially attracted settlers drawn by its high-quality timber.
Trees were felled, and bullock teams drew logs to the Maroochy River, Eudlo, and Petrie Creeks, where they were rafted to the Maroochy River mouth for transport to a Brisbane sawmill. By the 1890s, logs were sawn locally before shipment to Brisbane.
Evidence of historical logging at the site includes numerous cut tree stumps, springboard notches, logging trails, and 2 log-loading ramps. Scattered, large trees remaining on site and the absence of large clearings in the site interior suggest that logging was selective in these areas.a
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