Backward Glance: History of a road – Landsborough to Maleny

Did you know the Landsborough – Maleny Road was an important track in the early 1900s?

When a large quantity of felled timber was cut and hauled from the Blackall Range by horses and bullock teams, the timber-getters had to negotiate sharp ridges and long steep climbs.

Before surfacing, it was a rough dirt track with many boggy spots, which made it at times difficult to traverse.

Work gangs were used during the Great Depression years and the Maleny-Landsborough Road was one of the first roads to be funded under a Main Roads scheme to employ these men.

Construction started on a new road in 1926 when gravel was used to form the road.

In 1927, the Landsborough-Maleny Road was given an all-weather bitumen surface as a Main Roads Department project, being the first by that department in the Landsborough Shire region, now a part of Sunshine Coast Council local government area.

Landsborough Shire Council’s quarry, built at Bald Knob in the 1920s, operated for some time supplying crushed metal for all the local roads. Metal was delivered down towards Landsborough in bins, running downhill on tracks. The quarry was situated below 'Rowan House' on the present Landsborough-Maleny Road, just below the junction of Upper Mount Mellum Road. The bins were on wheels and workers filled them with rock and pushed them to the crusher. Bins of crushed rock were also pushed down the hill towards Landsborough to be used for road works.

The original Landsborough-Maleny Road, from the quarry down towards Landsborough, followed the north-eastern side of the ridge and is known as the Old Maleny Road.

As the road improved, automobiles began to appear in the district.

Henry Dyer owned the first automobile in the Landsborough district. In 1886, he relocated to Mellum Creek (later renamed Landsborough), to manage a butcher shop for John McCallum and in 1888, Dyer had a stately five-bedroom home built on the Maleny-Landsborough Road.

In the 1950s, tourist coaches used the road to take visitors to explore the countryside and enjoy the views. These coaches symbolised the early days of tourism on the Sunshine Coast.