The first historical notice we have of them appear in an account written by
William Ridley, a missionary who undertook a journey among the tribes of southern Queensland in 1855. He stated that the tribe whom he encountered in October of that year at
Yandilla, spoke a language called "Paiamba". Ridley's entry is very brief: Thence I came up the Weir, a tributary of the Macintyre; at four stations thereon, I met with forty blacks; all speak Pikumbul, and know something of Kamilaroi.From the head of the Weir, I again crossed the Downs by
Yandilla, where I found nearly a dozen blacks who speak Paiamba, a dialect containing a few words like those of the Brisbane tribes, but which was for the most part quite strange to me. ==Alternative names==