Check out details of the impact of the recent flooding of Lake Cootharaba on the Mill Point site!

Congratulations to all involved with the Mill Point Archaeological Project for the national award of the
Australasian Historical Archaeology Association's 2007
Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initative.

Can you identify the mystery artefact from Mill Point?

Mill Point (or Elanda Point) in the Cooloola Section of Great Sandy National Park is the site of one of the earliest timber settlements in Queensland.

Timber from the Cooloola area was heavily logged from the 1860s to the 1880s. An extensive tramway complex was built to move logs to the sawmill on the shores of Lake Cootharaba. Timber was then loaded at the wharf, and flatbottomed paddle-wheel boats towed punts of sawn timber through Lakes Cootharaba and Cooroibah to Tewantin, where the timber was loaded onto the firm's steamer and taken to Brisbane. As well as the mill and associated settlement, wharf and tramway complex, there was a school for workers' children. Forty-three burials are recorded between 1873 and 1891 in the nearby cemetery.

In 1991 a report on the site was produced for the then Department of Environment and Heritage (Hibbard and Crosby 1991) and a full survey was recommended. Since then, the site has become increasingly overgrown with lantana and other weeds and the full extent is difficult to determine.

In 2004, a project to map the site, clear vegetation, define the boundary and therefore allow for nomination to the Queensland Heritage Register commenced as a joint project developed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service/Environmental Protection Agency and the University of Queensland. Arts and Heritage Noosa, a community board established by Noosa Shire Council, supported the project and Noosa Shire Council allocated funding for interpretive signage. The 2004 field season focussed on defining the overall boundaries of the site. For a day-to-day run down on activities undertaken as part of the 2004 field season visit our Fieldwork [2004] Diary.

The 2005 field season (February 2005) focussed on increasing our understanding of the site through detailed survey of the tramway complex and domestic housing areas. For a day-to-day run down on activities undertaken as part of the 2005 field season visit our Fieldwork [2005] Diary.

During 2006 we undertook excavations in February, July and November, focussing on the area of the site where the workers and their families resided. We recovered evidence of one of the buildings used to house the residents of the mill settlement as well as artefacts representing their everyday lives.  For daily details of our eight weeks of excavations during 2006 visit our Fieldwork [2006] Diary.

We are heading into the field in July 2007 for a week of broad-scale surveying focussing on the area where the mill school is reportedly located and the site of the 20th century farmhouse surrounding the remaining chimney.  Visit our Fieldwork [2007] Diary which we will be updating every day while we are in the field.

We hope to undertake further work at Mill Point in the future. If you are interested in participating as a volunteer see our For Volunteers web page. Regular updates on the progress of the project will be posted on this website - so stay tuned!