Musings

Last week Simon and I rode from Wamuran to Moorina along the historic Old North Road.

This week we wanted to complete the southern section of where we think the road went, between Kurwongbah and Moorina.

We started at Dunlop Lane then headed north along Smiths Road where it crosses Mosquito Creek. I looked around here for any traces of an old bridge but could find nothing except an old beam in one of the banks.

Merelyn very kindly let us look around her property which is on the southern end of historic Franz Road where it used to meet Alf Dobson Road. She showed us the remnants of the Old Road, with what I think are survey marks clearly chopped out of a dead tree near the road.

Merelyn has records of the road reserve being re-gazetted from it’s historic route past her front door, to a point along one of the boundaries of her farm.

The ground is heavily compacted showing evidence of frequent traffic at some time in the past.

Merelyn has had conversations with several old-timers who tell her cattle used to be driven southwards along the road prior to the early 20th century.

Cliff, Owen and Cathy very kindly let us ride through their farm trying to find any remnants of the road.

As Franz Road heads north, we tried to retrace the road by referencing an old survey plan by William Fryar in 1868.

These old trees are close to where Fryar’s plan showed trees that he used as reference markers for his pegs. Unfortunately the original trees are long gone.

I would have made a hopeless surveyor, and found it difficult to differentiate between what I thought were remnants of the old road, and more recent farm tracks.

Cathy showed us this old photo of the old Franz homestead near where we passed.

Judy and Ken kindly showed us the remnants of an old road passing through their property.

Judy tells me that the road was used by Cobb & Co in the 19th century.

It winds up a fairly steep hill, and in some places it’s possible to see evidence of past maintenance, including an old log bridge, and frequent large rocks lining the sides of the road.

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Simon and I caught the train up to Caboolture today and cycled back via Wamuran and Dayboro.

The aim was to explore an old historical road in our area and have fun while we were doing it.

“The Old North Road” is a historic road which was established in 1843 by The Archer brothers (David, Thomas and John) and Evan Mackenzie as a quicker way to travel from Brisbane to Durundur Station and Kilcoy.

Parts of it remain to the North West of Brisbane (where it’s known as “Old Northern Road”, and up near Wamuran on the D’Aguilar Highway where it’s still known as “Old North Road”.

One of the pleasant surprises we found along the way was Zillman’s Crossing. It’s a causeway where The Old North Road crosses the Caboolture River in Rocksberg. This delightfully picturesque spot belies its history where horses, carts, and later cars would have a terrible time getting over the crossing.

We also crossed Gregors Creek, an old dirt track at the southern end of F.Lindsay Road. This was originally part of the Old North Road, but became disused over the years. Click on the video for a superb demonstration of prowess as Simon shows how to cross a creek on a bike.

As this newspaper article from the Moreton Bay Courier (October 24 1846) reports, Gregors Creek was site of a gruesome murder.



A little further south, and The Old North Road passed below Franz Mountain in Moorina. It overlooks a secluded valley which follows the banks of Burpengary Creek. Today the road is called “Franz Road” and passes south-east through some private property towards Narangba.

One of the beautiful old properties close to Franz Mountain is “Mary Ann’s Cottage“. This delightful cottage was built around 1880 by the son of one of the Moravian Missionaries, Maurice Schnieder and his wife Mary Ann. An outstanding native fig tree (Ficus Virens) stands proudly on the property, and is believed to be over 500 years old.

Meg Thomas, owner of Mary Ann’s Cottage has a fascinating collection of documents detailing the history of the property:

We’ll try to complete the northern section of The Old North Road next week, from Moorina to Whiteside.

But to cap this leg of the journey off, we decided to follow an old dirt “short cut” up the side of Mt Mee. Exceeding a grade of 25% over a couple of kilometres, this has to be the steepest road I’ve ever tried cycling up. But the views were spectacular, and the exhilarating journey down the mountain after the summit made it a worthwhile climb.

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