History
To increase production the first steam locomotive built in Queensland, in Maryborough, constructed in the Walker Brothers Foundry, was brought in to work in what is now Cooloola Recreation Area of the Great Sandy National Park. This was the first major private railway in Queensland and operated from 1873 to 1884. logs were cut and loaded to be transported by rail to the coastal terminus at Poverty Point, to be shipped up the Sandy Strait to the Maryborough mill. The Cooloola Tramway was opened on the 29 October 1873 but tragically William Sim was killed just 3weeks later by a 5-foot diameter log whilst unloading.
Today you can see some remains of the old jetty at Poverty Point or drive the Eastern firebreak in the Camp Milo area, the location of the first inland tramway terminus prior to it's extension into the Broutha Scrub.
Early Timber Cutters
Early timber cutters from the Tin Can Bay area. They cut massive trees such as Cedar, Beech, Hoop, Cypress and Kauri Pine which would have been a feat given the tools of the day.
Locomotive
The locomotive was named 'Mary Ann' after the daughters of Sim and pettigrew: Mary Ann Sim, born 21 February 1856, and Mary Ann Pettigrew, born on
25 December 1865
Oyster Industry
Oysters were another early industry that put
Tin Can Bay on the map. In the 1870's R.W. Leftwich & Sons acquired all of the oyster leases in the Tin Can Bay inlet and established a camp near Euldo Point on the opposite side of Snapper Creek from where the township of Tin Can Bay is today. They worked the leases until 1924 when they sold out to Morton Bay Oyster Company
Leftwich's oyster camp in 1902
Did you know that in a hunt for a new enterprise during the depression years in the early 1930's banana suckers were planted at Seary's Scrub in an experimental plantation? They failed and were removed in 1936.
