STORIES of courage, determination, achievement and sadness might have been buried with the pioneers of the Gympie region, but that doesn't mean they have been forgotten.

And, as a busload of local history enthusiasts was reminded on Sunday, the tiny cemeteries dotted around the district are the perfect place to hear of how those early farmers, miners and businessmen and women forged the community in which we now live.

The Gympie Family Research Society's first-ever Cemetery Crawl On Tour took in pioneer graves in the Tiaro, Munna Creek, Dickabram and Gunalda cemeteries.

Along with the stories researched by the GFRS's Di Woodstock, the stories recounted beside the historic graves included first-hand information provided by descendants of the pioneers who joined the crawl, including John Rayner who travelled up from Murrumba Downs in northern Brisbane to revisit his great-grandparents' final resting place in Tiaro cemetery.

Other descendants "on tour" included those of the Willett, Stratford, Herbener, Sauer, Jenkins and Balderson families, most of whom are regular GFRS cemetery crawlers.

The response to the society's first bus trip outside the Gympie Cemetery was a huge success according to Di, who put many hours into the compilation of a booklet printed for the tour.

"It was so nice to have a full bus of people who were interested in the area and were keen to learn about the people and their stories that we researched," she said.

"There were some sombre moments as we recognised the hard times that the pioneers endured, the early loss of loved ones and the huge areas they covered, such as the man who walked from Tiaro to 'meet his chum' he had heard was coming to Australia on a ship.

"They spent three months in Brisbane cutting wood for a baker and then they walked back to Tiaro."

Di said Gympie's Roundabout Tours supplied the bus for the day, her husband Woody drove "very smoothly for us" and PicNic fed the crawlers "beautifully".

"The sun shone and a lovely day was had by all," she said.

"I'm looking forward to the next Cemetery Crawl on Tour - which will go in a different direction."