QLDPort & river
Tewantin
Noosa’s first town was a river port for timber and the goldfields.
1871Township surveyed beside the timber wharf
WHAT STARTED IT
Timber cut along the Noosa River was brought down to a wharf here, making Tewantin the river port for the Noosa district. A township was surveyed beside the wharf in 1871.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Steamers such as the Culgoa carried timber, fish and oysters to Brisbane, and travellers bound for the Gympie goldfields came by boat and then coach through Tewantin. The Gympie railway took much of that traffic in 1889, and by the early 1900s the timber was running out and the mills and wharves were falling into disuse.
TURNING POINTS
1871A township is surveyed near the timber wharf.
1875Tewantin Provisional School opens.
1889The Brisbane–Gympie railway draws passengers away from the boats.
1891The steamer Culgoa is wrecked on the Noosa Bar.
1929The Doonella Bridge opens on a new road from Tewantin to the Noosa coast.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A residential town on the Noosa River, home to many who work in Noosa’s tourism industry. The Royal Mail Hotel and war memorial stand on Poinciana Avenue.