Hi

We will start our BUG Yeppoon History Tour at Kris’s Coffee at 64 Tanby Road.

Wreck Point

We will ride across to Wreck Point from Kris’s Coffee. When we get there, we will ask ourselves how did Wreck Point get its name? And we will find the answer to this question involves a 62 ton schooner Selina on its maiden voyage, a cargo of cedar logs and mysterious links to New Zealand.

Ross and Fig Tree Creeks

We will ride across to Taranganba, turning right at the round-about in Taranganba into Swordfish Ave and then turn left at the second Dolphin Crescent corner. At 63 Dolphin Crescent we will find some family graves of the Ross family: Robert Ross, Emily Ross and Ivy Ross.

We will then discover the Ross Creek wharf in Taranganba, where supplies came for the Ross family property and the area. Steamers would come into Ross Creek at high tide. It is thought the name of Cooee Bay refers to the calls made by settlers to attract the attention of a steamer.

We will then ride to Claude Press Swimming Pool (at the mouth of Ross Creek), a popular swimming pool from the 1930s – 1960s. Then we will go to Merv Anderson Park, land reclaimed as the result of dredging in a (forlorn) attempt to improve the navigability of Ross Creek.

Yeppoon War Memorial

We will then ride to the Sailing Club in Yeppoon. We will discover that the Yeppoon War Memorial is far more than a simple obelisk in James Street. We will see how the desire to honour ’68 brave lads’ from the area who enlisted in World War I, led to a transformation in the beachfront at Yeppoon, and is why we have cars congesting the beachfront in Yeppoon today.

We will also check out the Strand Hotel (1917), and discover why it fronts Normanby Street and not the beachfront. And we will also learn a little bit about Yeppoon’s first hospital.

Post Offices(s)

We will then discover where the first post office was in Yeppoon. And also why the ‘new post office’ (Yeppoon’s third post office) is now called the ‘old post office’.

Railway

We will then visit the railway station in James Street, and see how the railway station broke up Arthur Street into two. And we will consider how perhaps moving the railway station up the ‘old railway line’ a  bit to Braithwaite Street might return Arthur Street to its original design and also help create a bike riding hub at the beginning of the Pineapple Rail Trail.

We will also ask ourselves how the person Arthur Street is named after is linked to the old Adelaide Park station (just past Linda’s place outside of Yeppoon) and to the first house built in Yeppoon in 1874.

Beaman Park

We will then head off to Beaman Park; and ask ourselves how is the rotunda in Beaman Park a nice analogy for the medical training of Dr Beaman, an important early doctor in Yeppoon and at Yeppoon Hospital.

Yeppoon Hospital was located near Ross Creek at the far southern end of the esplanade. It was erected in 1917 as a convalescent home and commissioned as a hospital in 1922 (when Dr Beaman arrived in Yeppoon). But the hospital could only be accessed from central Yeppoon through sand dunes, along the beach or on a track through the mangroves.

Athertons: Adelaide Park

We will then go to the site of the first house built in Yeppoon (now the site of Flour cafe). We will discover about the Atherton family of Adelaide Park station and the origin of street names James Street, Mary Street, Arthur Street and John Street .. quite a family affair.

After selling Adelaide Park station to his son-in-law Mr A J Morgan, James retired to his Copland property nearer Yeppoon where he died in 1903.  After his death, Copland was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton and is now the site of St Brendan’s College.

Armstrong’s Monument

To finish our ride, we will discover Armstrong’s Monument, how this natural feature got its name, and who Rowley Rutherford Armstrong was. We will also find out that Rutherford Armstrong died at the age of 98 in Strow Street in 1958 (within the lifetime of a number of people on our bike tour!); and that his ashes were scattered over the old mill site.

Farnborough Sugar Plantation and Mill

We will turn back from Armstrong’s Monument to return to Kris’s Coffee. However, before we do that we will consider the old Farnborourgh Sugar Plantation and Mill; and discover some of the amazing stories surrounding this plantation of 2 000 acres and the sugar mill.

Martin