Bunya Mountains National Park - History

History

The Waku Waku tribes were the first to populate the mountains. During the 1860s the park was logged for red cedar, bunya pine and hoop pine and the Aboriginals were pushed out. European settlers began to visit the area and enjoy the scenery in the same decade.

The Bunya Sawmill opened in 1883. As the 9,112 hectare national park was declared in 1908, it makes it the second oldest national park in Queensland. Timber was still removed from the national park until about 1917. The last sawmill on the mountains closed in 1945.

The first walking tracks were constructed in 1939. Carbine's chute was the first of many trenches built to assist the removal of logs off the mountains. It can be accessed by a 1.5 km track from Munros camp. The last sawmill in the area was at Wengenville, which closed in 1961. In a successful attempt to reduce the splintering and damage to logs from falling down the steep trenches the owner of the Wengenville sawmill, Lars Anderson, used a combination of tramway, winches, winders and flying foxes to transport logs.

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