Mundoolun (4285)
Located 55 km to Brisbane’s south in the Albert River valley between the Albert River and the Birnam Range, Mundoolun (4285) was first explored in 1827 by Capt. Patrick Logan. Mundoolun was also a stopover for the mail coach between Casino and Brisbane. When Queensland’s penal settlement was closed in 1842, pastoralists moved into the area. William Humphreys established a sheep station on the Albert River, followed by his cousins, the Collins in 1844 who assumed sole ownership of the property known as Mundoolun. Humphrey’s original small ironbark cottage was extended to become the homestead in 1854 and sheep were replaced by cattle. In 1915 the Collins’ descendants, the Frasers built another homestead which was later destroyed by fire. However, to this day the original homestead continues to be inhabited by Frasers who continue to run cattle. In 1901 a chapel was built by the Collins family to commemorate their settler ancestors and in 1999 this was added to the heritage register.
Through the efforts of the Collins brothers in the 1870s, Mundoolun also played an important role in the investigation of tick fever and its threat to the cattle industry disease. In 1897 Mundoolun’s cattle were inoculated as part of research into tick fever.
Post 1901 when Australia became federated,military exercises were conducted at Mundoolun in preparation for World War I and continued in nearby Canungra during World War II. Members of the Collins family served in World War I.
In 2008 Mundoolun was split from the Beaudesert Shire to merge with Logan City. Although Mundoollun is mainly semi-rural, recently it is undergoing development with establishment of low density housing estates.
In 2011, 1300 people lived in Mundoolun, their average age being 34 years. Most residents were Anglo-Australian with a minority born in the Netherlands so that Dutch was spoken alongside English in a minority of households.
