Noosa Springs Relish Restaurant

It was 40,000 years ago that members of the Kabi Kabi tribe first set foot on what we now know as Noosa Springs. They considered the region a sacred retreat and called it ‘Nusa’ – an Aboriginal word meaning ‘shadows’ or ‘shade’, a reference no doubt to the area’s tall forests that offered refuge from the hot sun. In 1879 the Noosa headland was declared a Town Reserve. This tract of green forest has remained untouched and is now one of Noosa’s most important natural assets, Noosa National Park. Next to the national park, on the shores of Lake Weyba – a large, shallow salt-water lake once famous for the stingrays that inspired its Aboriginal name – was an area of trees, swamps and some cleared land that, by the 1980s, was the home to Weyba Ranch, a quarter horse stud. By 1992, Weyba Ranch had fallen into receivership and Noosa architect and developer Alan Starkey bought the 103ha property with thoughts of creating a first class residential development around a superb golf course. The property was known as Noosa Springs because of the natural, fresh-water springs that existed on site.