In 1911, there was a land sale in Goomeri, when portions were sold to the Goomeri Land Company. The land was originally part of the Boonara Station, owned by the Jones family.

After the land sale in 1911, Goomeri quickly came a bustling hub of activity, with many businesses and hotels built along the main streets of town.

 Ann Beer’s shop at Goomeri, year unknown. Photo source: Kilkivan Historical Society, originally from Lois Silburn.

Ann Beer’s shop

One of the earlier businesses in town was a shop owned by Ann Elizabeth Beer. Ann and John Beer originally came from Ballarat, Victoria and came to Kilkivan originally for the gold rush. Shortly after, John became the licensee of the Rise and Shine Hotel at Kilkivan. Helping John with the running of this hotel gave Ann the confidence to open her own store. During the 1911 land sale, Ann purchased Lot 4, section V in Moore Street. On this site, she opened a small shop which sold fruit, vegetables, bread, eggs, drinks, matches, cigarettes, newspapers and sweets (Logan, 1988).

Dahlke and Sons Blacksmiths

Harry Dahlke and his son Jack Dahlke owned the very first blacksmith shop and wheelwright business in Goomeri. This enterprise was situated where the Goomeri Swimming pool is now. It is said that besides blacksmith work, the Dahlke family loved music and dancing, with Harry Dalke’s daughter Dorrie being a well-known pianist in the community (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Dahlke and Sons Blacksmith shop, ca 1912. Photo source: Kilkivan Historical Society, originally from Lois Silburn.

The Goomeri Post Office

The Goomeri Post office was opened in June of 1912. The post office operated in one of the buildings attached to Kelly’s Bakery Shop. This row of shops, which also included a Boot Repair shop, was located across the laneway from the Grand Hotel. Mr Gerish was one of the first postmasters in Goomeri (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

 Old Goomeri Post Office, year unknown. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook Page.

John Coleman’s store

Mr John Coleman, a business owner from Kilkivan started a store at the siding in the railway yard. From here, he moved into Mrs Perrett’s vacant shop. Following this, in 1911 he had a newly established business site where the police station is today. He employed his niece Minnie McCarroll and her younger brother Clark to run this store. In 1914, Coleman’s store was sold to Wise Brothers (Logan, 1988).

John Coleman’s store in Goomeri, year unknown. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook Page.

McIvor’s store

Another early business in town was McIvor’s store. Mr William McIvor bought Crouch’s store in 1916. In 1927, after many years of successful business, William McIvor built a larger store on the corner of Jones and Moore St. This store was a general store which sold groceries, drapery, furniture and hardware. In the book, “Neverending stories”, Lois Silburn tells the story of how she worked at McIvor’s store in the drapery section in 1948. She states that at fourteen years of age, girls in the post-war years received the equivalent of $1.02 per week for wages (approximately 10 shillings). As a cost comparison, the cheapest pair of stockings you could buy cost 91 cents. Stockings were compulsory back then in all seasons (slacks were not acceptable). One of the girls working there told her that she bought her stockings on payday and shouted herself a two-cent ice cream but regretted that she could not afford to pay her mother board. Lois also had fond memories of the store and its employees, stating it was like “one big happy family” (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

McIvor’s store in Goomeri, year unknown. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook Page.

Workers at McIvor’s store, 1937. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook Page.

Butler’s Boarding House

Butler’s boarding house was located where the swimming pool is now situated and operated in the 1920s and 1930s. The boarding house was used to accommodate mill workers, timber workers and other single men in town (Logan, 1988).

Butler’s Boarding House, 1920s. Photo source: Kilkivan Historical Society.

Drapery

Mr. Vanarey and Mr Hellen had a drapery shop which was built in 1926. This shop supplied a large range of clothing and manchester to locals in the area (Logan, 1988).

Early street view of Goomeri, showing Vanarey and Hellen’s drapery in the centre. Photo source: Goomeri History Qld Facebook page.

The Cordial Factory

Mr Stewart and Mr Sawtell started a cordial factory at the old shop owned by the Wise brothers in Goomeri. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the cordial factory in July of 1929. I would like to share with you a recollection of this event from Mrs May Stewart, which is recorded in the book “Neverending Stories”. She recalled, “During the fire, the gas cylinders burst, hurling pieces of cylinder all over the town. One piece cut a hole in the cement path in front of shops, another piece was at the post office and another went through the garage roof at the hotel. After the fire, Gordon went looking for another piece of land to start again. So they obtained some land from the Rawlings near the end of Jones Street. So they built a new factory and started again. A man by the name of Dick Parke called and asked Gordon if he needed a hand, and so Gordon gave Dick the job. Later on, Dick Parke then purchased the factory from Gordon Stewart. Following that, the factory was also owned by the Finnemores”(Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

The Beaudesert Times newspaper article, 26^th of July 1929, page 4. Sourced from Trove.

The Boonara Hotel

Another early business was the Boonara Hotel. Prior to the land sale of 1911, an allotment in the Goomeri township (opposite the Grand Hotel) was purchased by Joe Murphy, with the intention of building a new hotel. It is said that Mr Murphy had purchased building materials from the Railway Hotel in Kilkivan, which he had shifted to Goomeri to build the Boonara Hotel (Logan, 1988).

In 1926, Mr Rich took over the license for the hotel. He also ran the pictures in the Goomeri Hall of Memory for a number of years (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

In February of 1947, the Boonara Hotel sadly completely burned down in a fire. The hotel, which at the time was unoccupied, burst into flames around 1.30am. Volunteers from the community rallied to try and extinguish the fire with buckets, but were unsuccessful. The hotel at this time was owned by Mr Corser and had been used previously during the war to provide shelter for children from Nudgee Orphanage.  The hotel was insured, but it is uncertain how much it was insured for. Thankfully nobody was killed in the blaze. Unfortunately, the Boonara Hotel was never rebuilt (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Boonara Hotel, 1938. The rubble in front of the hotel is the result of a fire at the Grand Hotel, which was directly across the road from the Boonara Hotel. Photo source: State Library of Queensland.

The Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel was built in Goomeri in 1910. It had several early licensees including Mr Goan in 1926, Mr Mitchell in 1929, John William Parker in February of 1940 and John Smith in August of 1940. Sadly, the Grand Hotel also burned down in a fire just before Christmas, in December of 1939. This fire tragically took the lives of several hotel staff and patrons – John William Parker, Eva Isabella Parker, Gladys Edwards, Pearl Frahm, Bridget Eisentrager, Allen Carter, Thomas Rixon and George Eddie.  The fire took place around 3am on the morning of the 23^rd of December 1939 (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

I would like to share a personal recollection of this event, as told by Jean Davis in the book, “Neverending Stories” by The Goomeri Heritage Writers Group.

She recalls, “The screams of those trapped in the hotel woke us and we hastily dressed and raced to the scene. Jack, my husband, was one of those on hand to catch a baby girl, who was thrown by her mother from the hotel verandah, much of which was enclosed by secure blinds. The frantic mother went back into the hotel to try and wake her friend Eileen Eisentrager, but sadly, both were numbered among the seven dead. The post office was also destroyed in the blaze. People worked frantically that fateful morning doing whatever possible to help. Some helped to recover whatever could be saved from the post office. Others, under the guidance of Arthur Duffey formed a bucket brigade to try and save the nearby shops. Amongst these was my fourteen-year-old brother, Val Perrett (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000)”. The Grand Hotel was rebuilt in 1943, this time being replaced by a brick structure (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

The Goomeri Grand Hotel, pre-1938. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook page, originally from E.D Euler.

Black Brother’s Cafe

In the early 1940s, many Greek immigrants came to the Goomeri area to set up businesses. Tony Argeris had a butcher’s shop, Hellen had a drapery and John Mavromatis (Black) and his son Jim had a café called Black Brother’s Café (State Library of Queensland, 2020).

Black Bros. Café, 1930s. Photo source: State Library of Queensland.

McDonald’s Goomeri Cafe

In 1947, a lady named Flo McDonald purchased a café (which was originally the site of Ann Beer’s shop) and named it McDonald’s Goomeri Café. Her husband Joe worked at the Elgin Vale Sawmill and would bring timber from the mill back to the café for the wood stove cooker. The days were long at the café, as the shop opened at 7am in the morning and closed at 10pm at night. The café also made up bulk fruit and vegetable orders, which were delivered to local farmers in the area who did not frequently come into town. The Maudsley, Toop and Lawless families relied on Flo’s delivery service. Flo ran this café tirelessly for over 30 years. In 1976, the building which housed her café was sold off, which sadly left her no choice but to close her café (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Narelle Henningson standing outside McDonald’s Cafe’ Goomeri, year unknown. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook page.

The Queensland National Bank

Oska and Willow was originally the Queensland National Bank which was built in 1926 (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

The Queensland National Bank, ca 1935. Photo source: State Library of Queensland.

Wimberley and Sons store

The Wimberley and Co. bookstore was originally the premises of CA Wimberley and Sons and opened in 1923, specialising in groceries and hardware (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Automotive shops

In the 1950s, the town was served by three garages, namely Goomeri Auto Service, Boonara Motors and McDonald Motors.  At Goomeri Auto Service, you could buy a range of new vehicles, including a Morris Minor, Morris Z Utility, Morris Oxford and Morris Six (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Boonara Motors also stocked a range of new vehicles including brands such as Holden, Chevrolet, Bedford and Vauxhall(Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

McDonald Motors stocked all Ford brand vehicles including Ford Zephyrs, Fairlanes, Consuls and Pilots (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Nuffield Tractors were also stocked by Goomeri Auto Service and Boonara Motors. Getting the tractors from Brisbane to Goomeri was a challenge though. Back in those days, workers would catch the train to Brisbane and then drive each tractor back to Goomeri! This tractor delivery method ceased though, when one of the workers fell asleep behind the wheel! (Goomeri Heritage Writers group, 2000).

Boonara Motors, year unknown. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook page.

Dave McDonald- Atlantic Motors Goomeri, year unknown. This was located on the corner of Boonara St and Post Office Lane. Photo source: Goomeri History Facebook page.

Reference List:

-Goomeri Heritage Writers Group. (2000). Neverending Stories: A Tribute to Our Pioneers. Goomeri, QLD: Goomeri Heritage Writers Group. pp.10-334.

-Logan, D. (1988). Where two rivers run : a history of Kilkivan Shire. Kilkivan: Kilkivan Shire Council. pp.1-492.

-State Library of Queensland. (2020). Black Bros Café, Goomeri. [Online]. State Library of Queensland. Last Updated: 16 February 2020. Available at: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/black-bros-cafe-goomeri [Accessed 12 June 2025].

Photographs sourced from:

-Goomeri History Group. (2025). Goomeri History. [Online]. Goomeri History QLD. Last Updated: 2025. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/p/Goomeri-History-Qld-100067578905764/ [Accessed 12 June 2025].

-State Library of QLD. (2025). State Library of QLD. [Online]. Last Updated: 2025. Available at: https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/search?vid=61SLQ_INST:SLQ [Accessed 12 June 2025].

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