Beaudesert is not within the boundaries of Logan City, but it has always been the business / administrative / community centre of the region.
The opening up of the Moreton Bay district to pastoralists in February 1842 led to a flurry of activity in the region. Ned Hawkins came to the Logan Valley in 1842 to manage stock for Henry Suttor of Bathurst. Hawkins named the run Beau Desert after a property at Mudgee. The family of Thomas Fitzherbert Hawkins were original settlers in the Bathurst district. The daughter of Thomas Jarman Hawkins was married to Henry Suttor. A depasturing licence was issued to Suttor in 1842 and in 1844 was transferred to Joseph Phelps Robinson. The property was managed by his cousin William Duckett White. Younger brother George Robinson joined White on the property in early 1849, and by 1851 they purchased Beaudesert Station between them. William Duckett White’s house was on the site of the current Beaudesert Bowls Club. In 1874 Robinson became sole owner and retained ownership until 1885.
Other significant squatters in the region included Hugh Aikman and Thomas Lodge Murray Prior who were early landholders at Bromelton, with Murray Prior later taking up Maroon. Tabragalba was initially taken up by surveyor Robert Dixon, and was originally part of the Burton Vale, or Tamborine Run. John’Tinker’ Campbell first took up Tamrookum, which soon passed into the hands of William Barker. Nindooinba’s earliest documented lessee was Alfred William Compigne from 1848. Robert Towns took over the lease in 1865 and it was transferred to Ernest White in 1867.
In 1842 William Humphries and Paul and Clem Lawless, took up a depasturing licence on land on the Albert River. Humphries took up Mundoolun and the brothers took up Nindooinbah. In 1844, Humphries sold part of the property to his second cousin and her husband, Ann and John Collins. By 1847 the Collins’s were in full possession of the property.
The Beaudesert town ship evolved from the subdivision part of the original estate of the Whites, which occurred in 1874. Thomas Brayford purchased some of these and established a store, post office and a hotel and also leased property to the fledgling Tabragalba Divisional Board, the forerunner to the Beaudesert Shire Council, for their office. The Tabragalba Board first met on 20 March 1880 at the Veresdale Court House and soon called for tenders for a clerk’s office. The cheapest offer came from Mr Brayford in Beaudesert who offered a building, with stables and a horse paddock for £5 per annum. The acceptance of this offer further cemented Beaudesert’s position as a main township in the region.
The announcement of the construction of the railway to Beaudesert in July 1882 led to a flurry of activity. Browns Plains’ publican George Stretton relocated to the hotel under construction by Thomas Brayford. The township quickly grew with former Waterford resident Jeremiah Dunne establishing a butcher shop in town also. By 1885 Enrights had set up the first general store and later so did William Webb. The railway opened in 1888. By 1889 there was a Queensland National Bank, blacksmiths, saddlers, baker, wheelwright, chemist, sawmills and two hotels run by George Stretton, formerly from Browns Plains and Agnes Jennings, formerly of Waterford and Jimboomba. The Catholic congregation had been first ministered by Benedict Scortechini of Logan Village. Father Enright came to the parish in 1884 and built a presbytery in 1885, followed by the first St Mary’s church in 1889. St Thomas’s Church of England was built in 1888. A new St Mary’s Catholic Church was opened in 1907, with the original timber building relocated to Kerry.
The Beaudesert Provisional School opened in 1882 and was upgraded to a primary school in 1887. St Mary’s Catholic Primary School opened in 1901. A Rural School was opened in 1927 followed by a Secondary Department in 1954. The Beaudesert State High School opened in 1964.
Commercial interests in the region remained with grazing, dairying and timber getting. The Logan and Albert Co-operative Dairy Association established a butter factory on the northern side of town in 1904. Lahey’s sawmill remained a key industry in town also. Laheys built a tunnel and railway linking Canungra with Upper Coomera in 1901. Despite further lobbying for the government to build a rail line from Canungra to Coomera, funds were not forthcoming at that time. Eventually construction was completed by day labour and was completed in 1914. Further rail construction occurred during the late 1920s with the interstate line through Grady’s Gap to Kyogle opening in 1930.
Medical services in the district were well served by the Beaudesert Cottage Hospital. Land was given by Thomas Brayford. Local MP Arnold Weinholt donated his salary to hospitals in the Fassifern Electorate. The most loved local doctor, Dr Ashley Beet served the Beaudesert community for 44 years, retiring in 1947. Lahey’s sawmill was sold to Enrights in 1963.
The boundaries of Beaudesert Shire have been altered a number of times since the instigation of local government in 1879. Most recently, major change occurred in 1979 when Logan Shire was formed from the northern suburbs of Albert Shire and Beaudesert Shire. At that time the boundary was located at Rosia Road and Stoney Camp Road in the west and across to School Road in Logan Reserve, with the Logan River the north eastern boundary. The 2008 Local Government amalgamations led to the absorption of more localities north from Veresdale into Logan City, and the creation of the Scenic Rim Regional Council to the south, incorporating the former Boonah Shire with the remains of Beaudesert Shire. The Albert River now forms the eastern boundary of Logan City.