Cooroy

History

Cooroy's name came from Mount Cooroy, which was originally called Coorooey, from an Aboriginal word for possum, kurui. The area was explored by timber-cutters as early as 1863. Cooroy's main industry developed from timber, having two operating sawmills, into dairying and fruit growing. In 1915, a butter factory opened. Cooroy railway station was opened in 1891 and in the same year a post office opened. Cooroy State School opened on 18 January 1909 with 18 students under headmaster Robert Thorney Bolton. The school building was with two verandas and a water tank. In February 1910, it was proposed to build a Methodist Church at Cooroy. In July 1911, a call for tenders to erect the church was issued. The stump-capping ceremony was held on Thursday 7 September 1911. The church was officially opened on Wednesday 31 January 1912 by Harry Walker, followed by a social evening to celebrate the following day. On 19 February 1949, the current church building opened and the 1911 church building became the church hall, having been relocated to the back of the site. With the amalgamation of the Methodist Church into the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, it became the Cooroy Uniting Church. Cooroy West State School opened in 1911. It closed in 1962. That church was destroyed by a cyclone on 19 February 1954. On Sunday 7 November 1954 Archbishop Reginald Halse dedicated the new church. On 23 January 1961, a secondary department was added to Cooroy State School until the Cooroy State High School was opened as a separate school on 23 January 1963. In 1967, it was renamed Noosa District State High School. In 2007, Cooroora Secondary College at Pomona which was merged into Noosa District State High School, with the Pomona campus being used for the younger students and Cooroy…

Geography

Cooroy is inland from the northern Sunshine Coast hinterland about west of Noosa Heads. The town is in the north-east of the locality. The Bruce Highway runs through the locality from the south-east (Eerwah Vale) to the north-west (Black Mountain), bypassing the town. The Cooroy–Noosa Road exits to the east from the Cooroy Connection Road, which runs north through the town from the Bruce Highway. The North Coast railway line enters the locality from the south-east (Eerwah Vale), passes though the town which is served by Cooroy railway station, and then exits to the north-west (Pomona).

Most-observed species

• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  6,160
• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  5,789
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  5,386
• Bar-shouldered Dove

  Geopelia humeralis (Temminck, 1821) · Aves
  4,830
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  4,323
• Eastern Whipbird

  Psophodes olivaceus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  4,114
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  3,913
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  3,887

Most recent

• M 4.9 — 2025-08-15
  12 km ESE of Cherbourg, Australia