Allan Cunningham Print Page

The wooden sign and rest area were erected to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the explorer Allan Cunningham who sighted and named the Darling Downs near the site in 1827. 

Cunningham's longest, and perhaps most important, journey lasted from 20 January to late August 1827: from the Hunter valley he travelled northward crossing the Peel and Dumaresq Rivers and entered the Darling Downs before returning to the Hunter valley and Bathurst. While in the Darling Downs he found a gap in the ranges, now called Spicers Gap, which he thought would give access from Moreton Bay to the downs, whose fine grazing country he regarded as of major importance. In July and August 1828 he returned to Moreton Bay by sea and explored the country southward to the Logan River and Macpherson Ranges and passed through another gap, now known as Cunningham's Gap, and in May 1829 explored the upper part of the Brisbane River valley. Between these visits to Moreton Bay he made trips to Bathurst and Illawarra, and between May and September 1830 visited Norfolk Island.

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