Backward Glance: Early roads and tracks of our ranges (part 2)

Today we continue shining the spotlight on our early roads and tracks of our region’s ranges.

Picture Sunshine Coast historical records describe the early pioneering days in Mapleton as difficult.

In September 1880, the Smith Brothers made a trip to Caboolture and then travelled by coach to the Petrie Creek settlement.

They walked westward through some partly settled country to the top of the range and once there, they claimed blocks of 160 acres each and set to work to build a track to transport their belongings.

By 1895, they had constructed a rough bush track, near Dalzell’s Pinch and Mapleton’s former Methodist Church, however it was arduous and difficult to navigate due to dense scrub.

Early pioneer Tom Rose selected land between Montville and Maleny at Highlands in the late 1800s and on September 2, 1903 he married Ada Brewer.

The selection was rich in cedar and 18-foot lengths of timber were hauled by bullock team down the range.

While living at Highlands, Tom Rose spent nine years as a councillor on Maroochy Shire Council and his area included Maroochydore, Buderim, Eudlo and Highlands.

There were no roads and Mr Rose had to ride a horse to Maroochydore once a month - a journey of up to two days.

In the early 1900s when roads in the hinterland were virtually non-existent, Henry and Annie Jeremy established a farm in the Eudlo region on Ilkley Road and Henry became postmaster for the Ilkley district.

At that time, a number of small and large mills operated in the Mooloolah Valley region, a railway town and source of the Mooloolah River which sits at the base of the Blackall Range.

Dairying had been successful in the region from the early 1900s and approximately 45 dairy farms were scattered throughout the Mooloolah Valley region, supplying cream to the Caboolture Butter Factory during that time.

The original Mapleton Range road from Nambour was cleared and levelled around 1900 and the existing road built in 1909.

The original road from Mapleton to Obi Obi was also constructed in 1900.

This gave the Obi Obi settlers a new access as previously their supplies came from Eumundi.

In wet weather, roads were awash in the Eumundi district and many Obi Obi district residents went without supplies and food during flood times.

This original road was built by the settlers of the district with a government grant of approximately $600.

Old pinches can still be viewed today from many of the lookouts on the range and give an idea how steep and hard this land was to navigate.

By the early 1900s, Palmwoods was a major fruit growing area.

Strawberries grown on the hills were picked and packed in barrels then sent south by train.

A bullock track went up the hill in a similar route to what became Eudlo Road.

This track ended near the loading grounds near the present Chevallum turnoff.

Snigging tracks spider-webbed the higher lands.

Those early snigging bullock tracks were the genesis of present roads.

Brandenberg Road is named after John and Annie Brandenberg who moved to Mooloolah in 1903.

They ran a boarding house in Mooloolah until moving to a dairy farm under Bald Knob in 1910.

Fred and Violet Smith moved to Mooloolah in 1909 where Fred ran a bullock team to take timber to Rabjohns Mill on Old Gympie Road.

The family moved to the northern side of the Mooloolah River adjacent to the railway line.

Landsborough Shire Council later resumed some of Fred and Violet Smith’s land to construct the road under the railway bridge to Eudlo.

In 1909, George Jones, previously from Paynters Creek (Nambour), built a store in Mooloolah and Ann Jones became the first postmistress in Nambour.

Four years later, the pioneering citizens of Landers Shoot held a meeting to make a formal application for a school to be built.

Surnames from that meeting are still in our community today and include Gerrard, Roy, Wood and Blanck.

In 1916, a tramline from Palmwoods to Buderim was opened.

For many years, Palmwoods was the rail head for Montville, Buderim and Maroochydore.

The Montville to Palmwoods road opened around 1929.

The new road to Montville was built in three sections to replace Razorback which was very dangerous in the wet.

The official opening, while it was still a dirt road, was a gala occasion.

A cavalcade of trucks and cars led by Minister of Transport Sir Godfrey Morgan slowly made their way up the mountain and was greeted with a great sports program at Montville when they arrived.

Relief work for unemployed men in the early 1930s saw a connecting road built between Maroochydore turn off and Caloundra Road.

This unsealed link was known as the Forest Glen Road and was very rough and subject to flooding.

The track known as the Producers Road at Highlands could be unusable when bad weather prevailed and farmers still had to rely on the use of pack horses in 1937.

Following World War 1, there was a settlement in the foothills of the Blackall Range situated west of Mooloolah. It was known as Diamond Valley.

Diamond Valley School was built by community effort and opened in 1927 but, due to people leaving the district, was closed on March 6, 1936.

The government introduced a Soldier Settlement Scheme to settle returned soldiers on small acreages where they grew bananas cultivated by hand.

Bananas were graded then packed into wooden boxes and sent down the hills using wires and pulleys.

Horses, carts and wagons transported the produce to the rail line.

The infestation of Bunchy Top disease caused problems as did the railway strike of 1927.

By the early 1930s, in the throes of the Great Depression, prices dropped causing farmers to leave their lands.

The small farms then reverted back to one large property of about 300 acres and was then used for dairying.

It would take many years before a car or bus would use these roads without incident.

Thanks to Sunshine Coast Council’s Heritage Library Officers for the words and Picture Sunshine Coast for the images.

_In 2017, we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Naming of the Sunshine Coast. For more information on this milestone anniversary visit www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/fifty_

Image captions:

Hero image: Family group with harvested bananas seated in their pickup truck on Buderim Mountain, ca 1925.

Carousel images:

Image 1: Official opening of Montville-Palmwoods Road, Montville, 23 Nov 1929.

Image 2: Locomotive and carriages at Guy's Siding on the Buderim Tramway, Buderim, ca 1916.

Image 3: Wagon loaded with pineapple crates at Joseph Rose's packing shed, Woombye, ca 1905.

Image 4: Residence of Tom Rose located near the Balmoral Ridge Lookout on the Maleny - Montville Road, ca 1910.