Dunethin Rock

Dunethin Rock is accessible from the Yandina-Bli Bli Road. It has been a landmark tourist destination for more than 100 years. Its name, meaning place of swimming trees, reflects the region’s timber-getting history. During the 1860s, logs were cut and rafted down the river to this point, where William Pettigrew and James Low loaded them onto boats bound for Brisbane sawmills. Dunethin Rock was generally accessed from the river. In 1901, local residents petitioned the Lands Department to set aside the rock and its surrounds as a public reserve. The Maroochy River State School opened in 1911 on land excised from within this reserve, servicing families along the river. It operated until 1972. The Maroochy River School of Arts opened here in 1914 and served the community until 1963. Both were on the north-west of the rock and south of Dunethin Lake; the site of local aquatic sporting events. In 1923, the Moreton Central Sugar Mill at Nambour constructed a cane tramway to the rock. Tourists travelled by tramway to the river and by boat to the emerging coastal resorts. Today, the rock is appreciated for the vistas from the summit and is part of the Maroochy River paddler’s trail.