Beenleigh - our heritage

hi all you history lovers....here is the history of beenleigh....short form....from the gold coast city council website...

Beenleigh

View of George Street near the intersection with City Road, Beenleigh, 1886. A remnant from the scrub cleared for the Beenleigh Sugar Plantation pictured here in 1873. Aerial view of Beenleigh 1998

Beenleigh is the most northern town in the Gold Coast. It is located in a pocket of land between the Albert and Logan Rivers. When Europeans first settled here, news of their arrival quickly spread, no doubt, among the local aboriginal people the Yugambeh. The rivers were an important food and transport resource for both the aboriginal people and European settlers. In the 1860s, the area was referred to as the Logan & Albert District.

Beenleigh Sugar Plantation: Around 1864, brother-in-laws, Francis Gooding and John Davy established their Beenleigh sugar plantation near the northern bank of the Albert River. The site was located a little distance upstream from where this river joins the Logan. They named their plantation after the family’s estate in southern Devon, England. The Gooding and Davy Family continued to successfully operate their sugar plantation and mill here until the late 1880s.

In a similar pattern to the development of the Nerang sugar and cotton plantations, other syndicates and family groups took up large parcels of land in the Logan & Albert District. Beenleigh became known as the planter’s town. A government ferry was established at nearby Yatala on the southern bank of the Albert River.

A town develops: In 1868, a Mr Savage opened a general store at the crossroads of five roads leading to the Logan and Albert Rivers, Cedar Creek and farther south to the Nerang District. By 1869, Michael Tansey opened the first hotel the ‘Planter’s Rest ‘near Savage’s General Store. The hotel became a convenient stopping place for passing coaches and travellers. Prior to the hotel’s opening, the nearest pub for thirsty travellers was at Eight Mile Plains, south of Brisbane. This ‘halfway between destinations’ attribute shaped the character and businesses of Beenleigh.

As horse and coach traffic increased, the settlement acquired the services of a hotel and blacksmith and was referred to in the Brisbane newspapers as the township of Beenleigh. A government land survey of Beenleigh town-ship was completed in 1870, and a school opened in the following year.

In 1871, the deciding factor for the future of Beenleigh was the erection of a Court House – again at the intersection of the roads. Because of its relative distance from Brisbane, Beenleigh too served as a local administrative centre for the Lands Department. Farmers from as far away as Coolangatta dealt with the Land Agent’s Office in Beenleigh.

German Immigrants: Another factor that shaped the early character of Beenleigh was the influx of German immigrants who joined the Irish, Scottish and English settlers in and around the township. When the large plantation holdings were subdivided, it was generally the German settlers who acquired the smaller blocks and who continued to cultivate and manufacture sugar in the area.

The Germans had a great respect for the unity of family and this was reinforced by a strong religious focus. In some areas German settlers soon outnumbered their British neighbours. In these times, many districts around the town were nicknamed ‘little Germany’ or ‘German Pocket’. Branches of these families moved to areas like Coomera or Gilston in the Hinterland, where they dairy farmed or worked in the timber industry. Some families settled around Southport and were pioneers of the early fishing and oystering industries.

By the mid 20th century, tourists, passing through Beenleigh by car or train used the town, or nearby Yatala, as a refreshment stop. This was all part of the excitement, later a nostalgic reminder of a trip ‘down the coast’. When the Pacific Highway bypassed the town in the 1960s, it was the highway signs, ‘Beenleigh is Rum’ or the Yatala Pie Shop which caught the eye of motorists and their passengers.