Category: History

This historic hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), in the St Paul’s School grounds, Bald Hills, is believed to be approximately 195 years old.

Prior to Eurpoean settlement, the banks of the North and South Pine Rivers were home to many Hoop Pines and Cedars. Most of these magnificent trees were felled for their valuable timber, so that few of them remain today.

John Oxley first noticed them in on this day (1 December) in 1823 on the banks of the North Pine River near present day Petrie.

The old building in the background of these pictures is the administration building for the school. It was originally a farmhouse built by the Stewart Family in the late nineteenth century.

Read more information about these Hoop Pines on the Queensland Cultural Heritage Register.

Courtenay Spry was one of the first owners of freehold land in this area, along with Tom Petrie, Stephen Lawn and others.In 1862 he purchased large tracts of land, and sold some of it a short time later to make a handsome profit.

But this amusing little excerpt from the Brisbane Courier in 1882, reveals a nasty side to Mr Courtenay Hele Fowell Spry Esquire. It appears that one of his sons had an impressive butcher bird that was able to sing quite remarkable tunes. The bird went missing, and Spry suspected the daughter of the local pastoralist, Job Minchinton. He sued Minchinton in the Brisbane Police Court for the loss of the bird, but Minchinton testified that he never had a butcher bird, or any bird except a parrot.

Spry lost the suit, but not being one to let his inferiors off the hook, then decided that Minchinton didn’t tell the truth in court. So he had him charged with perjury, and had his sons to testify against him. Courtenay’s son, Reynell, testified that on 27 May 1882 he saw a butcher bird on Minchinton’s verandah and knew it was the stolen bird because of the tune it was whistling. Mr Bruce, the defense lawyer cross examined him:

Bruce: “If you remember the tune the bird was whistling, can you whistle it?”

Reynell: “No.”

Bruce: “Who was the composer of the tune?”

Reynell: “The butcher bird was the composer”

Bruce: “How can you be so certain about the date?”

Reynell: “I don’t know”

Bruce: “Well if you’re so good with dates, can you tell me what month the winter holidays were in, this year?”

Reynell: “No”

Bruce: “How about your birthday? Can you tell me what month your birthday is in?”

Reynell: “No”.

Because of Spry’s power and influence, the judge didn’t accept the defence claim that the case should be thrown out. He wanted to give the appearance of actually considering this weighty case. But after a few minutes deliberation, he announced that he had decided to dismiss the case, and discharged Minchinton.

If you’re interested in much ado about nothing, click on the images at the left to read it yourself.

When the North Pine Dam was built in 1976, many old historic properties and roads were submerged.

Access to the area surrounding the dam is severely limited, but we thought we’d go on a short exploratory hike to see what we could find.

You can see some of the individual photos here.

Sweeney Reserve is a beautiful park in Petrie where we’ve often gone to have a BBQ or picnic, or just to laze around and relax. It’s full of large trees, swings and plenty of space. I often ride through there on my bike most mornings.

I was amazed when I found this old photo from 1896 at the State Library of Queensland web site.  It was contributed to the State Library by Leith Barter on behalf of the Moreton Bay Regional Council along with about 150 other historical images.

In the centre of the old photo, you can see the North Pine Hotel, sitting on ground that is now part of the carpark at Woolworths Petrie. To the left and behind the hotel is the building which originally housed Tom Petrie’s hostelry and accommodation house. You can read more about the old photo here.

Today, the business centre of Petrie is close to the roundabout at the intersection of Anzac Avenue and Dayboro Road. But in the 1890’s the town centre was further south, approximately where the Woolworths carpark is now. In the early days, the main road north from Brisbane came through what is now Sweeney Reserve and up what is now Old Dayboro Road.

Out of curiosity, I had a quick look around the vacant lot near the Woolies carpark where the Hotel would have stood. There’s nothing there today. No marker, no ruins. Nothing. The pub was actually moved North East to where the current Petrie pub is today. But after that it was completely lost in a fire. There’s a replica of it today at “Old Petrie Town” on Dayboro Road.