Lahey's Corinda Sawmill

As Irish immigrants the Laheys established themselves with a succession of successful timber, arrowroot and sugar mills in the Pimpama, Beaudesert, Waterford, Canungra areas in the late nineteenth century. David Lahey, one of the eleven Lahey children, after establishing himself in his own right as a successful saw miller and timber merchant, decided to found his own saw milling business as a legacy for his own eleven children. In the early twentieth century David purchased land in Corinda, beside Oxley Creek. It was deemed advantageous to have a site with water access that not only provided an efficient mode of timber distribution, but also an opportunity to establish boat building as part of the business. The land also sat adjacent to the railway line, providing yet another convenient means of transporting timber. 

In 1910 the sawmill at Corinda was built after an intensive land clearing operation carried out by several members of the Lahey family. By 1911 the mill was operating.  The business was known as Brisbane Timbers Ltd. Projects such as the construction of many of Brisbane’s trams, as well as providing Brisbane with high quality timber, ensured the success of the Corinda sawmill. 

One important aspect of the Corinda mill was the means with which energy was produced, by steam. Boilers for the generation of steam were fired up by the large quantities of sawdust left from the milling process. This process was carried out in a separate building from the sawmill, the sawdust separator building. The steam produced by the burning of sawdust was used to work the mill’s machinery. This is an important reminder of the Lahey family’s contribution to the Corinda area. 

Initially David Lahey and his family lived in various stately homes in Yeronga, Indooroopilly and Toowong when they first relocated to Brisbane. However in 1912 David Lahey built a large house on the Corinda property, known as Wonga Wallen, no longer existent on the site. As the family and the business grew David had three other houses constructed around the Corinda mill property from 1919 to 1925. The last of these houses was 103 Martindale Street, and was built for Percival Lahey and his family. 

By the mid 1920s the Corinda mill had expanded with another mill constructed for the cutting of softwood, the original would be used exclusively for hard wood. The Lahey family at Corinda were aware of the importance of timber as a renewable resource and as such were committed to reserving a portion of their land for the planting of pine trees. As the 1920s drew to a close so too did the prosperity generated from the Corinda mill. In 1931 the mill went into receivership. However, by 1934 it was back in business, albeit operating at a smaller scale. The Lahey sawmill continued to work under the Lahey name until the 1950s when it was sold to Carricks.

1. Lahey, Shirley, The Laheys: Pioneer Settler and Sawmiller, Brisbane, 2003

2. Lahey, Shirley, “Lahey’s Corinda Connections”, Places, Patriachs and Pastimes, Oxley-Chelmer History Group Papers: I 1996-1997

3. Certificates of Title, Department of Natural Resources and Water

4. Queensland Post Office Directories

5. Metropolitan Water and Sewage Survey Maps, 1949

6. Oxley Creek Times, ‘Industry’, Brisbane-stories.powerup.com.au