Eumundi Voice - Issue 100, 22 August 2024

The changing streets

The roadworks in the middle of Eumundi may be a bit hard to miss right now but there have been many changes to Eumundi’s roads over the years.

When a dirt track was first flattened in 1891 between the new railway and the first building in town – the pub – it was called Gympie Rd. Although it was not long before the locals just called it Main St. At the bottom of the hill was the intersection where it met Tewantin Rd and Kenilworth Rd.

It was still a dirt road when it became part of the Bruce Highway in 1934. Shortly after this, the town began pestering for a bridge over the railway, due to trains delaying the increasing number of motor cars several times a day. The road was altered to accommodate a bridge in 1938, forming the shape of what was called Caplick Way many decades later. A butcher’s shop moved into the spot of the old road, where the burned down former Humdrum Café site currently awaits rebuilding.

built carts and wagons and then later sold cars – suggested that the main street introduce the diagonal parking that remains part of Eumundi’s character today. The road was finally sealed with bitumen and given gutters around 1951, although the council cut down two of the memorial trees in the process. Thankfully the ladies of the CWA planted new trees for the fallen.

Eumundi was then bypassed by the “new” Bruce Highway in 1976, with the main street renamed Memorial Dr. Joe Hextall – Curator Eumundi Museum