Cash’s Crossing Part 1
Picturesque dairy area
By Thomas J McMahon as printed in The Brisbane Courier 05/04/1930

(REASEARCHED BY MELVA WELCH)

About 90 years ago, when Brisbane was comparatively a small town, and settlement was just beginning to make headway in the surrounding country, the late Mr James Cash took up a large extent of grazing land on the Pine River and the holding became generally known as “Cash’s cattle station.” Some years later the ford, or crossing of the river near the station homestead – the crossing that is now bridged– became well known as it was the first important crossing 12 miles out from Brisbane on the highway leading to the North Coast. The name Cash’s Crossing was applied to it and as Cash’s Crossing it has been known ever since. Subsequently the name was applied to the surrounding district, which was fertile, picturesque and has an abundant water supply. The area comes within the jurisdiction of the Pine Shire Council. In the early days of the settlement of Cash's Crossing the banks of the Pine River were thick with scrub, and the surrounding hilly country heavily wooded, the blacks were numerous, aggressive and treacherous, and considerably hampered the efforts of the early settlers. As Brisbane grew, a big demand for timber for buildings set in and the Pine River scrubs in which there was a wealth of such valuable timbers as red cedar, pine and a wide variety of hardwoods were exploited. For many years the timber-getting industry gave employment to many hands and bought fortunes to not a few men.

SUCCESSFUL FARMERS

With the clearing of the scrubs thousands of acres of fertile land was made available to settlement and eventually with the decline of the timber industry, many of the timber getters took up farms and in course of years by hard work and overcoming many hardships and difficulties, won their way to success. Today, descendants of these worthy pioneers are farming successfully on the same lands. All the pioneers, many of whom lived to ripe old ages, have gone. A link with the first settler is Mr J Cash, son of the late Mr James Cash of Cash’s Cattle station. Mr Cash is hale and hearty and remarkably active for his age. He can recall with wonderful clearness the days of more than 60 years ago. He was born on his father’s station and well remembers his feelings of terror in his early childhood, as he lay awake at night listening to the weird cries of the blacks as they were going through their corroborees on the grounds some distance from the station homestead. In those days, of course, the country between Cash’s crossing and Brisbane was practically unsettled but now there is not an acre of scrub left, and there are thousands of habitations and tens of thousands of persons residing on the same stretch of country.

The late Mr F Greensill who also was a pioneer of note settled at the “crossing” mire than 60 years ago. He has left behind him a large number of descendants. One of his sons Mr Douglas Greensill is a successful dairyman.

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