A Part of Buderim's History

The Piano Bridge

by Joyce Short
September 2011

In the very early settlement days of Buderim and its surrounds a strong wooden bridge was built over the Mooloolah River close to where the Caloundra turnoff is now.  Even when the Bruce Highway came through by 1935 that bridge was part of the highway for many years. 

Everyone called it the Piano Bridge and most thought the name referred to the way every plank seemed to make a different sounding rattle.  However, that was not correct.

Apparently Westaways at Meridan Plains had ordered a piano to come from England.  There was great excitement at the thought of the first piano to come to the district and it conjured up great visions of musical treats to come.  The piano would be delivered to its new home by bullock wagon, and people worried that the new bridge with its “U” shaped entry and exit might see the piano jolted or sway and perhaps topple!  Mr. Laxton (Mick Meads grandfather), a skilled teamster with bullock wagons had the job of delivering the piano.  The local people had come to watch and hold their breath as the sharp turn onto the bridge was approached but this skilled man brought the team around, over the bridge then sharply turn again off the bridge with slow, quiet commands and no movement whatever of the piano.  There was a cheer from the onlookers and all agreed the new bridge would be called Piano Bridge, and so it was!

A Part of Buderim's History

The First Poinciana Avenues in Buderim

The Poinciana, Delonix regia, is a native of Madagascar and was introduced to Brisbane in 1864 by the first superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Walter Hill.

Poincianas have become a symbol of Buderim and this was the aim of the Buderim War Memorial Community Centre. 

In an article in the Courier Mail, July 24^th 1948, the chairman of the BWMCC, Mr H. O. Foote said that in future the mountain would be called ‘The Poinciana Drive of Queensland’. 

In January 1949, the Nambour Chronicle reported the first plantings and noted that ‘Buderim residents and visitors can now look forward with a good deal of pleasure to a time when these beautiful trees will provide a most colourful, shady and picturesque avenue’.

The first trees were planted in the main road from the School of Arts, along the top of the mountain, to Mr. George Burnett’s. The Gloucester Road avenue was planted in November 1950, and in some locations it was necessary to blast holes in the surface rock for planting.

The project was initiated by the BWMCC who worked with the Main Roads Commission who authorised the plantings along one mile of road at a cost of £300 [$600].

Some of these original trees remain, but many have been lost or replaced. Development and power lines are two factors that have affected the health of the trees, or led to substantial pruning. However, The Sunshine Coast Council has repeatedly expressed its commitment to maintaining poincianas as a feature of Buderim.

Street trees were not the first poincianas in Buderim. Joyce Short (nee Nelson) recalls that the poincianas at her childhood home, in William Street, were planted by her grandmother c1913, from seeds collected on a visit to Townsville. These large trees are likely to be the oldest in Buderim.

Meredith Walker, Buderim Tree History

References available.

For Buderim history information, email Buderimhistory@gmail.com