page_title: Cooloola Tramway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cooloola Tramway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: William Pettigrew, Brisbane, ca. 1875. This photograph was published in JOJ, March 1980.
context_page_description: The Cooloola Tramway is a heritage-listed tramway at Great Sandy National Park, Cooloola Recreation Area, Cooloola, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 1870s it was known as the Kaloola Railway. It is also known as Cooloola Railway, SEQ-5N 22, Pettigrew's Railway, and Pettigrew's Tramway. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 12 July 2013.
context_section_description: William Pettigrew's Cooloola timber operation began in the 1860s with the extraction of timber from Woolann (the area around Lake Poona). Bullock teams were used to drag Kauri pine logs to the mouth of Seary's Creek. The sandy nature of the terrain and lack of feed for horses and bullocks made traditional forms of timber transport unfeasible and Pettigrew had to find a solution to access the rich timber of inland Cooloola. The answer was the construction of a tramway: Cooloola Tramway opening in October 1873 as Queensland's first major private railway.
  Of all Queensland's natural resources "timber was the most visible and abundant to the first Europeans". Early European accounts of Queensland frequently refer to the extensive stands of timber which lined the coast and river banks. In south-east Queensland the dominant timber species were softwoods such as Hoop (Araucaria cunninghamii) and Kauri pine (Agathis robusta). When Moreton Bay was opened up to free settlement in 1842 the colony did not have a sawmill and logged timber was either pit sawn and used locally, or sent south for milling and/or export.
  The timber industry played a vital role in the economic development of Queensland and William Pettigrew was instrumental in this process. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1825 and came to Moreton Bay in 1849 as one of Dr John Dunmore Lang's immigrants on board the "Fortitude". Pettigrew was engaged as a surveyor and land agent by Lang. When Lang's immigration scheme collapsed, Pettigrew worked with Assistant Government Surveyor, James Warner. In this role he gained "first-hand knowledge of the local timber resources and the need for a sawmill to facilitate the expansion following the transformation of Brisbane from convict settlement to free society".
  In 1853 Pettigrew established Queensland's first steam sawmill on land adjacent to the Brisbane River, at the western corner of William and Margaret streets in Brisbane. According to Kerr, Pettigrew's sawmill was arguably Queensland's first major industrial enterprise. With the establishment of this sawmill, Brisbane became the key local market for timber. William Sim, an experienced timber worker from Nairn, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, began working at the Brisbane Saw Mills in August 1854. With Sim in charge, the quality of product improved and production increased.
  The first sawmill to be opened in Maryborough was Gladwell and Greathead's Union Sawmill in 1861, which established the city as a timber-getting town. Pettigrew was anxious to retain his monopoly in Queensland and began to explore the Maryborough area, looking for new sources of timber and a site for a sawmill to supply the northern ports of Gladstone, Rockhampton and Bowen. In August 1862, Pettigrew explored the Mary River with Tom Petrie and in October decided on the site for his sawmill - 10 miles (16 km) downriver from Maryborough. On Pettigrew's return to Brisbane, he established a partnership agreement with Sim, who paid £200 for a quarter share in the new firm of Pettigrew and Sim. The new sawmill was called Dundathu and began operating in August 1863.
  The Maryborough timber industry industrialised and grew rapidly during the 1860s. In 1876 more timber (mainly sawn pine) was produced in Maryborough than had been exported from Queensland in the preceding 10 years. A number of firms were established including Wilson, Hart and Bartholomew; and James Fairlie. Despite early competition from Gladwell and Greathead's Union Sawmill, Dundathu Sawmill quickly proved profitable, shipping timber to Sydney, Gladstone, Rockhampton and Bowen.
  Pettigrew continued to seek out timber resources which could be milled at Dundathu. In September 1863, he set off in the paddle steamer Gneering to search for stands of timber that were reported to exist in the Noosa area. On his return Pettigrew concluded that the timber was disappointing and inaccessible. However, others did not agree and by the end of 1863, timber-getters were operating in the lower Noosa area. Pettigrew turned his attention to the north, and
caption: William Pettigrew, 1875
exif: {}