Sweeney's Reserve

Sweeney's Reserve is a heritage-listed park at Old Dayboro Road, Petrie, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 December 2008.HistorySweeney's Reserve is a picnic ground located on the banks of the North Pine River in the suburb of Petrie to the north of Brisbane. It was used as a rafting ground in the early period of the timber getting industry. Later, the Brisbane to Gympie Road crossed the North Pine River here and the park contains the remains of this road. The remnants of timber bridge piles are located in the adjacent reach of the river. Between World War I and World War II it became a popular picnic and bathing spot maintained by Terence Patrick Sweeney, the owner of small kiosk in the reserve. The picnic ground is named after him.The area may have been used by timber getters as early as the 1840s. The Pine River area was among the first in Queensland to be logged: convict timber getters were recorded in the area in 1824. The north coast region had a long-lived timber industry, eventually developing into one of the State's most productive timber regions by the middle of the 20th century.Since timber was the most viable and easily accessible natural resource it was one of the first resources to be exploited by settlers. As a consequence, timber getters entered undeveloped districts which had few, if any roads. So rivers like the Pine were crucial to the viability of the industry. Not only did the sought-after soft woods generally grow in river valleys, but the rivers also represented the most practical way of transporting logs out of the district to market. Rafting grounds were places were logs were assembled in rivers and floated downstream to the sea.