Early times
It was 1911 when the O'Reilly boys shouldered their swags and left the relative comfort of the Kerry Hotel to carve a home for themselves on the rainforest covered spurs of the McPherson Range.
Overloaded with supplies and equipment they left the Cainbable Creek Valley, climbed the torturous 'Heartbreaker' and scrambled along dense rainforest ridges to claim their selections. Their motivation was not the beauty of the mountains or a dream of a future tourist industry, it was dairy farming. The government encouraged young men to take up dairying by making land available on the mountain for this purpose.
When the remaining land was withdrawn from selection three months later, eight O'Reilly's boys of two related families from the Blue Mountains in N.S.W. were the only applicants. Tom, Norb, Herb, Mick and Pete built their first hut on top of the cliff at Moran's Falls while cousins Pat, Luke and Joe built theirs at Pat's Bluff. Each man paid thirty-five shillings an acre for approximately one hundred acres of land and could pay it off over thirty years at 5% interest. According to government regulation each selector had to clear his land, plant grass, build fences and yards and establish dairy farms. Their tools of the trade were axes, cross-cut saws, brush hooks and stout hearts.
The Stockyard Creek Track was constructed following the formation of a national park that isolated the O'Reillys' properties and left them with no prospect of a road. When the track was completed in 1914, visitors arrived in increasing numbers attracted by the scenery and wildlife of the area. They stayed in the O'Reilly huts and were taken to the Border Lookouts and Elabana Falls by family members, generally on horse-back, along trails specially cut for the purpose.
The enthusiasm of these visitors influenced the O'Reillys to think of a future in tourism. Looking after guests seemed attractive when compared to milking cows by hand and carrying cream 15kms to Kerry on pack-horses.
In 1918 the O'Reilly's hosted a large party from the Field Naturalists Club, with the accommodation still in slab huts and the going rough.
In 1921, when guest Herbert C Knights wrote of his week spent at O'Reilly's, the journey there (two days travelling from Brisbane) was as memorable as the destination.
"The track was steep and slippery, but the mountain-bred horses found no difficulty in negotiating this," he wrote. "Nearing 3000 feet, it was colder and clouds drifted by. Little of the surrounding country or deep gorges could be seen. Maybe it was just as well that I couldn't see how steep was the drop from the track."
The History of the Guesthouse
The location of the project meant transporting building material to a mountain-top 15km from the nearest road. Horses dragged an engine up the Stockyard Creek Track to drive a sawmill to cut timber for the new building. Packhorses carried in roofing iron, windows, furniture and even a stove that was pulled apart and taken up in pieces.
When eventually the Guesthouse opened its doors, the O'Reilly sisters Molly, Rose and Anne were a vital part of its operation. The guests were a hardy lot in those early days. It took two long days to travel from Brisbane. The journey entailed a train trip to Beaudesert followed by three hours travel in the Kerry Coach. After an overnight stay at the Kerry Hotel, a member of the O'Reilly family would meet them with horses for the 25kms ride up the Stockyard Creek Track to the Guesthouse, the journey being completed after dark.
The road from Canungra was constructed by Laheys Ltd in the mid 1930s. They operated a large sawmill in Canungra and constructed the road to access valuable stands of hoop pine. Lahey's road ended 6km from O'Reilly's so the family cut a horse track along the top of the ridge to connect with it.
The spot where they met was known as 'The Dump'. People, luggage and supplies were dumped there when the service car arrived to complete the journey on horses.
Second generation O'Reilly, Peter Snr, remembers the real sense of isolation visitors experienced by the time they actually arrived.
"They were part of the family by the time they got here," he said.
This winding horse track was widened to become a road in 1947. After 36 years the O'Reilly's had a road to their front door - the gallant horses could have a spell at last.
It wasn't until 1980, and thanks to a unique form of fundraising from Beaudesert Shire businesses and locals, that a second access road to O'Reilly's was established - a 4WD track from the Kerry Valley called Duck Creek Road, with sections of the road and key vantage points auctioned off to the highest bidder.
A stay at O'Reilly's offered bucolic charms - Peter O'Reilly Snr recalls the 9:30pm curfew when the generator was turned off and lights went out, leaving guests to find the toilets by torchlight.
O'Reilly's wasn't connected to mains power until 1967 and it was 1978 before a radio- telephone link replaced the Duck Creek party line.
1978 marked the first year for O'Reilly's famous Bird Week – celebrating the commitment of the family to conservation of the park's abundant bird and wildlife, through a program of special interest weeks and conservation activities, including annual Frog and Mammal Weeks.
In 1987, the famous Tree Top Walk, the first ecotourism attraction of its kind in Australia, was opened, thanks largely to the vision of second generation O'Reilly Peter, and the work of the Green Mountains Natural History Association.
