QLDPlanned settlement
Caboolture
A river crossing on the road north to the Gympie goldfield.
1869Township surveyed at the river crossing
WHAT STARTED IT
The township was surveyed in 1869 where the road and stock route north from Brisbane crossed the Caboolture River. Teamsters heading for the new Gympie goldfield needed a punt at the crossing, and a ferry, a store and a hotel soon gathered there.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Caboolture had fewer than 100 people in 1881 but grew into a rural centre once the railway came, with a co-operative butter factory (1907), a branch line to Woodford (1908) and three sawmills. The Caboolture divisional board, formed in 1879, later became the shire council that ran the district from the town.
TURNING POINTS
1869Caboolture township is surveyed where the northern road crosses the river.
1873The first state school opens.
1879The Caboolture divisional board is formed.
1907A co-operative butter factory opens.
1908A branch railway to Woodford opens.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A large outer-northern centre in Moreton Bay, with shops, council offices and a town square beside the railway station. A historical village at the showground keeps buildings from the district’s farming past.