
Published with permission of Tamborine Mountain Historical Society
TAMBORINE Mountain Road was constructed between 1922 and 1925 to link the small farming community of North Tamborine on the Tamborine Mountain plateau to Tamborine railway station.
Linking North Tamborine to the railway system enabled greater tourist access to the mountain, and greater market access for Tamborine Mountain produce.
Tamborine Mountain Road was one of the first construction projects undertaken by the then newly formed Main Roads Board and was one of the first declared Main Roads and the first bitumen road in Queensland outside Brisbane.
It remains a main access and tourist road for Tamborine Mountain.
Rainforest timber was harvested on the mountain plateau from the mid 1860s and up to the first selections in the 1870s and after.
The first timber men came up to the plateau when there were no roads or tracks.
They had to follow the aboriginal pathways and clear the way to the best stands of fine trees.
From there they created tracks for their bullock teams to get the felled timber to common areas.
These areas were called log dumps. It was often some time before these logs were moved on to the mills.
The first wave of settlers on Tamborine Mountain in the 1870s and 1880s established walking and bridle tracks through the rainforest to reach their selections, where they cleared the land to grow bananas and fruit (and later dairy produce) for the Brisbane markets.
In July 1918, the Tamborine Mountain Progress Association, anxious to improve access to markets for the increasing number of dairy farmers and fruit growers on the mountain, urged Tamborine Shire Council to construct a good road down the mountain to link North Tamborine with the Tamborine Railway Station.
By 1920 the need to provide all-weather roads was a priority for all Queenslanders – a response to the increased number of motor vehicles on the roads, and to the need to provide suitable infrastructure for an expanding economy.
The Queensland State Government established the Main Roads Board in 1920 to oversee the construction of connecting roads and bridges and to provide funding to the local authorities involved.
Tamborine Mountain Road was gazetted on December 16, 1921 as one of Queensland’s first seven Main Roads, and the Main Roads Board subsequently made funds available to Tamborine Shire Council for its construction.
The road linking Sandy Creek to the Tamborine Railway Station was completed in 1925.
Tamborine Shire Council then asked the Main Roads Commission to bitumen the road surface to reduce maintenance costs and this was done.
Construction of the “new road” circa 1924
In 1924 Mr Young, Engineer, sits atop of a rock during the building of the ‘New Road’.
This Basalt boulder became ‘The Sentinel’.
In 1930, when changes to the Main Roads Act permitted the levying of tolls on roads with high maintenance costs, Tamborine Shire Council paid £500 to have a toll keeper’s house erected at Sandy Creek.
Tamborine Mountain Road was one of the first three Queensland main roads/bridges to have a toll imposed under the provisions of the Act.
It was anticipated that tolls from tourist vehicles would contribute to the repayments to the local authority but the toll was uneconomic and disliked and was removed in 1945.
The roadside vegetation is dry sclerophyll for much of its length changing to subtropical vine rainforest in the upper areas.
This rainforest area with the Bangalow Palms in Cedar Creek Valley has retained its original characteristics and forms an important part of the landscape of this site.
The upper section winds through subtropical rainforest which for decades has provided an aesthetic portal to the Tamborine Mountain plateau.
The Sentinel 1924 – 2024
Another feature of the road reserve is the Sentinel, a piece of basalt, standing beside the upper S bend.
It has stood beside the road since its construction as part of a large basalt bolder, too heavy to move, and as such became a local landmark.
The Sentinel was recently found to be unstable following inspections by the Department of Transport and Main Roads geotechnical engineers and removed due to the potential safety risks to road users.
The Department of Environment and Science (DES) had approved the partial removal under the requirements of the Queensland Heritage Act 1992.
It has been suggested over the years that a Heritage Plaque should be placed on or near the rock to recognise the construction of the road which was the first sealed road to run from Brisbane to a rural area and to recognise Mr Crawford the designer and engineer.
May 2024
An interpretive sign is to be installed by the TMR at the information pull over area close to the current location to provide visitors and locals with information on the Sentinel’s history.