A TIMELINE HISTORY OF BURRINGBAR

Prepared by Ian Fox for the Burringbar Community Association, August 2016.

The Burringbar Community Association acknowledges Aboriginal people as the ‘first people’ of Burringbar and surrounding districts.

Aboriginal culture prior to European Settlement

The oldest dated sites that show Aboriginal presence in the region are about 40,000 years old (Cobaki Lake 38,500 B.P.).
Today’s descendants prefer the broad group identity of ‘Bundjalung’ people (North East NSW) and ‘Yugambeh’ people (south East Queensland).
There were three main clans or cultural groups in the Tweed area – the ‘Moorung Moobar’, ‘Goodjunburra’ and ‘Tul-gi-gin’ clans.
Total population of the Tweed is believed to have exceeded 2000 individuals prior to permanent European settlement in 1844.
It is most likely that members of the Goodjunburra clan inhabited Burringbar.
Burringbar is an Aboriginal word meaning “place of the Burring”. (A Burring or Burrong is a non-returning fighting boomerang).
The precise cultural location of Burringbar is adjacent to Cowell Park, near the freeway and the Mooball Pottsville Road.
A traditional cultural ‘story’ or mythology, tells of how Burringbar received its name.

1828 - Military and Convict Presence on the Tweed

The establishment of an ill-fated military post at Point Danger (for 9 months in 1828/9) provided the first regular contact between Aboriginal people and Europeans in this region.
Point Danger was an outlier of the Moreton Bay penal settlement which operated for approximately 17 years, from 1825 to about 1842, with a total of around 2,000 inmates.
Smallpox was known to exist among Moreton Bay penal settlement convicts.
More than 500 convicts escaped the settlement; some attempted to make their way down to Sydney and carried the smallpox disease which spread amongst Aboriginal people throughout the region.
Smallpox, other introduced diseases, and intolerance of settlers decimated the Aboriginal population. By 1871 just 135 individuals were recorded for the Tweed and Brunswick districts.
Within 50 years of European settlement census figures show that depopulation of Aboriginal people exceeded 90%.
A record of Aboriginal people’s presence in the Burringbar Valley is maintained through legislated protection of numerous cultural sites.

1844 – First Permanent European Settlement of the Tweed

Pioneer cedar cutter Burgess and party from Moreton Bay and another party from Sydney, arrived coincidentally on the same day in 1844 and established a permanent European presence on the Tweed at Terranora.
The first industry was the ‘timber getters’ who sought to extract the red cedar that was once common on ridges and valleys. Bullocks were used to drag logs to nearby watercourses for transportation to logging camps established along the Tweed and Brunswick Rivers.
The 1861 Robertson Land Act opened up large areas of the State for sale to small farmers.
The Act enabled the purchase of up to 640 acres at a cost of one pound ($2) per acre and stipulated that farmers had to clear, fence and build on the land within two years. Government inspectors ensured compliance.
Timber cutters and squatters took up the option to purchase land.
Established farms provided their own crops, fruit and vegetables, raised chickens, reared cattle and made their own butter and cheese.

1886 – Establishment of Burringbar

Burringbar was one of the last early settlements established, due to the greater distance from suitable watercourse transport.
A conditional land purchase of Portion 1 at Burringbar (maximum 640 acres), was granted to R. Campbell Ewing and was first surveyed in 1886.
Land Portion 2, at Burringbar, was purchased by John Ewing and surveyed in 1888. Portion 2 contained the area that is now Burringbar Village and the survey map identifies the first built structure (a hut) adjacent to the present day Broadway and behind Philips garage.
However, a small village grew along the main road and old highway (what is now known as Tweed Valley Way) at the crossing point for Burringbar Creek and near what is now the Hunter Street intersection.
The earliest written references to Burringbar as a locality appear in the Tweed and Brunswick Advocate and South Queensland Record, first published on October 31, 1888.
A steam traction engine drove machinery that cut and constructed the roads for use by horse transport and the first coaches.
The first roads tended to follow Aboriginal walking tracks and old bridle trails.
Burringbar became an overnight stay for Cobb & Co coaches that brought mail, newspapers and supplies from Murwillumbah and Brunswick Heads.

1894 - Railway comes to Burringbar

The railway was constructed from Lismore to Murwillumbah, opening at Burringbar on 24 November 1894 (one month later to Murwillumbah) and later connecting to Casino in 1905, and Sydney in 1930.
1894 – The Burringbar Public School opened on land leased from Thomas Ewing, adjacent to Broadway lane. Enrolment of 67, but average attendance was 36.
The construction of the railway brought an influx of people to Burringbar and the village ‘centre’ shifted from the old highway to the present day Broadway, adjacent to the newly constructed railway facility.
An unstaffed railway platform with a siding was provided and this was extended with a gantry crane in 1896.
1896 - Upper Burringbar was provided with a waiting shed and siding and a gantry crane was added in 1904.
Seventeen bullock teams hauled logs from surrounding areas for loading onto railway wagons by the gantry cranes at both Burringbar and Upper Burringbar.
Burringbar became a thriving district centre and contained a baker, butcher, small hotel (The Pioneer) and Skinners cordial factory. A small Methodist Church was located at the entrance to Strong’s dairy farm (now Harnett’s), adjacent to today’s Hunter Street. Later a new building, which became the Uniting Church, was transported from Crystal Creek and was erected on the opposite side of Burringbar Creek, near the bridge on the old highway (now Tweed Valley Way).

Early 1900s – Burringbar Village

1900 – Additional shops included two general stores, a boarding house, tearoom and billiard room were built. Burringbar Public School moved to the present location.
1902 – A female railway platform attendant was appointed.
1904 – Catholic Church, St. Brigid’s, was built.
1905 – The railway station building included provision for postal services. Miss Kirby was appointed the first Post mistress. Prior to the mail arriving by train it is believed that Cobb and Co. Coaches delivered mail which was left at Bloom’s General Store for collection.
1906 – Hotel Burringbar opened by James Gill, proprietor.
1908 – Burringbar Brass Band played in the park each Friday night.
1909 – The Burringbar School of Arts opened. This served the community as a meeting place for social events and housed a library for many years. Farewell functions for men going off to fight in WWI, and later WW II, were also held in the building which remains an important public venue for Burringbar.
1910 – Church of England, St. Michael and All Angels, was built.
1911 – Staffing for the railway included an upgrade appointment for a Station Master.
1912 – The ‘village’ contained two general stores, two butcher’s shops, one fruiterer, two blacksmiths, a hairdresser, a baker, a tinsmith, Snow’s Sawmill and the Burringbar Hotel, as well as the Public School and several churches.
1913 – The Post Office moved to an office site on Broadway, joining other commercial interests in the village. The Savings Department of the Commonwealth Bank opened an Agency at Burringbar Post Office.

Burringbar after the Great War

1914 to 1918 – One hundred and thirty-two service personnel from the Burringbar district served in WWI. Thirty-three were killed in action.
1919 - Soldiers came home from the war: an avenue of trees in remembrance was established in Masterson Park (then known as Memorial Park) and later the WW1 memorial was erected. A fully functioning railway station platform was built at Burringbar.
1920 – Banana and dairy industries developed. Cream was produced and butter was exported to England. The railway was a vital transport link. Twelve-minute aircraft joy flights to and from Murwillumbah were popular, with provision for a landing strip in the paddock east of the bowling green.
1921 – St Brigid’s Convent School opened (beside the current Catholic Church) and was run by the Sisters of St. Joseph with 86 pupils attending.
1923 – A major fire burnt all shops west of the Hotel to the ground.
1924 – Upper Burringbar Public School opened. Mill’s Brothers transport business was established.
1925 – The Burringbar telephone exchange (operated from the Post office) had 17 subscribers.
1930s – The cattle industry expanded and locally supported two butcher’s shops. An average of 8 trains passed through Burringbar a day until the mid-1960s.
1932 – Hotel Burringbar burnt down and the licence was eventually transferred to the Hotel Victory at Mooball, with much community anger. A bakery and butchery were also destroyed in the fire. Waratah Hockey Club was formed.
1939 – A butchery and General store operated adjacent to the Upper Burringbar railway station, near the old site of the Munster Hotel which was built about 1893 and had traded during the time of railway and nearby tunnel construction.

1950 – Electricity comes to Burringbar.

1956 – Telephone subscribers could dial each other direct, rather than be connected manually at the telephone exchange, and Burringbar had 67 subscribers.
1957 – A third major village fire in the Broadway destroyed Stoker’s electrical shop and the Post Office, with the loss of all postal records.
1958 – New Post Office was built (current building).
1968 – Burringbar railway garden was judged “best in the state”. Burringbar Bush Fire Brigade formed, following a public meeting of Burringbar and Mooball residents.
1969 – St Brigid’s Convent School closed with 48 pupils, due to changing education policies.
1972 – Telephone exchange upgraded to STD and the 92 Burringbar subscribers could phone anywhere in Australia.
1975 – Upper Burringbar Public School closes.
1982 – Carriage of mail by rail ceased, replaced by road transport and delivered directly to the Post Office. Gumnut Community Pre-School was established and operated from the School of Arts Hall. The current pre-school building at Greenvale Housing Estate commenced operation in 1991.
1990 – Trains no longer stopped at Burringbar, the railway closed in 2004.