The town is also a terminus of the Brisbane Valley Heritage Trail (currently under construction)

 

Yarraman has its own hotels, motels, caravan park, convenience and food stores, restaurant and petrol outlets.

Cooyar - located on the New England Highway about 25km to the west of Yarraman - has a hotel, a general store, a petrol outlet and a population of around 250 residents.

 

The town is surrounded by a mixture of commercial hoop pine plantations, State Forests and picturesque South Burnett grazing countryside. The Tarong Power Station is located only a short drive to the north and the Ted Pukallus Weir (a popular local fishing hole) is located about 5km south of town.

Yarraman has a rich timber heritage and one of its major industries is the Yarraman Sawmill (the other is the Yarraman Bacon Factory). There are a number of well-marked walking and driving trails through the nearby pine forests and the area is very popular with bushwalkers and naturalists.

One of the town's major tourist attractions is Heritage House, the home of the Yarraman Historical Society. Heritage House was established in 1997 in a former boys' boarding convent - originally as a museum, but now also incorporating extensive art, craft, tapestry and timber displays. It's now being extended as a terminus for the Brisbane Valley Heritage Trail.

Cooyar - a short drive west of Yarraman on the New England Highway - is home to the Palms National Park (one of the smallest national parks in Australia) and the Cooyar suspension bridge. A platypus sanctuary is also being developed there.

Major annual events include the Cooyar Show and Rodeo (held at the Cooyar Showgrounds each February); the Yarraman Horse Ride (held each March); the Yarraman Family Fishing Competition (held each November) and the Yarraman Christmas Carnival (each December).

 

The town itself was founded in the late 1890s when the first logging operations were established in the area, and developed into a major railhead in 1913 when Yarraman became the terminus for the Brisbane Valley line.

Yarraman established its own private electricity company in the 1930s. The plant supplied reliable power to the town and neighbouring areas until the mid-1950s when the State Government took over responsibility for power supplies. The Yarraman Power Company was one of the last private electricity companies in Queensland, and some remains of it can still be seen in the area today.

The Brisbane Valley Line was decommissioned in the 1980s and its loss threw Yarraman into a temporary decline. Today, though, the town draws most of its wealth from timber, agriculture and tourism.