HMQS Gayundah was launched at Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK on 13 May 1884. The name Gayundah is an aboriginal word meaning “lightning” – no doubt because of her incredible 10.5 knot top speed.
In concert with her sister ship Paluma, (Aboriginal word for “thunder”) the ships sailed for Australia in November 1884, travelling via the Suez Canal, under the command of Captain Henry Townley Wright. The ships arrived in Brisbane on 28 March 1885.

Originally Gayundah was a flat-iron gunboat operated by the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and later the Royal Australian Navy. During WW1 Gayundah acted as a minesweeper and sea-going tender. She was decommissioned and sold to Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd in 1921, and she then served as a sand and gravel barge in Brisbane until the 1950, when she was scrapped. In 1958, Gayundah was run aground at Woody Point near Redcliffe, Qld, to serve as a breakwater structure. She remains there to this day.