The Cooyar & Deep Creek Sawmills

We'd just like to provide a brief summary of what we've recently uncovered about the Munro sawmills in the Cooyar and Deep Creek districts north of Toowoomba.

Newspaper reports show that the company established a mill on the banks of Cooyar Creek in 1903 and that the town of Cooyar effectively grew up around that mill. At that time Cooyar was not connected to the Government rail network - that connection happened in 1913 - and that meant a very long haul to Oakey for the bullock teams, as that was nearest station connecting through to Toowoomba.

In December of 1912, the Cooyar mill caught fire and was completely destroyed. Instead of re-building at Cooyar the Munro company opened a new mill the following year, at a location some 12 km to the north on the banks of Deep Creek, or as it was later known - Tanduringie Creek.

The fire at the old mill was devastating as the photo below shows and unfortunately for

the company, the mill was uninsured.

The new mill, on the banks of Deep Creek, sat not far from the site of the present-day Tanduringie State School. It's a beautiful area with glimpses of the Bunya Mountains away to the west.

Thomas Munro, the 4th born son of Duncan Munro, was the manager of both mills and newspaper reports suggest that he was a highly regarded member of both communities. The Deep Creek mill closed in circa 1921 and Thomas relocated to Toowoomba where he later joined his brothers Archibald and William as directors of the A&D Munro company.