[3][4] In the 2021 census, the locality of Cherbourg had a population of 1,194 people, of whom 1,151 (96.4%) identified as Indigenous Australians.

The Wakka Wakka language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the North and South Burnett Regional Council, particularly the towns of Cherbourg, Murgon, Kingaroy, Gayndah, Eidsvold and Mundubbera.

In 1900, the Salvation Army negotiated for the establishment of the Barambah Aboriginal Settlement, which was gazetted over 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) on 23 February 1901.

[11] The district was renamed Cherbourg on 8 December 1931 to avoid confusion with the mail deliveries to the Barambah pastoral station.

[3][4][12] It was initially populated with a few local Aboriginal people, but others from the Esk region and further afield were soon sent to the reserve.

The effect of mixing these different groups of people together and forcing them to learn to speak a foreign language (English) has been an almost total loss of their cultural heritage.

Many of the languages are considered to be extinct, surviving only in notes and recordings stored at the University of Queensland.

[8] Alcohol limits were imposed on Cherbourg residents in March 2009 in an attempt to reduce violence.

[19] In 2009, then-Mayor Sam Murray claimed the restrictions were not being enforced and the problem was being pushed underground.

The Service Centre is part of a program to boost the economic development of Queensland First Nations communities through digital skills training and employment opportunities.

[26] It offers general courses of study as well as ones specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.