Border Survey Plaque on NSW/QLD border

Urbenville Pioneer Cottage

The Summerland Way links the Moreton Bay (Brisbane) area in Queensland with the Richmond and Clarence Valleys in New South Wales. This route was a pathway through the mountains for the Bundjalung Aborigines as they conducted special ceremonies and initiations at the regional Bora grounds north of present day Casino.

In 1828 Captain Logan, the officer in charge of the convict settlement at Moreton Bay, explored the country south to Mount Lindesay. From the summit of Mount Lindesay he viewed the upper reaches of the Richmond River and land to the south.

Surveyor GW Stapylton left Brisbane in May 1840 to survey the Logan and Tivot Rivers and to follow the Richmond River to the coast. However, he was killed shortly after on 1 June by Aborigines at his camp in the bush beyond Mount Lindesay.

In 1841 when Major Oakes, the Land Commissioner from Port Macquarie, visited 'Cassino' station on the Richmond River, he noted, "the road from the Clarence River thither – the main line to Moreton Bay is almost a perfect road". Bullock drawn drays from ‘Cassino' had recently returned from the Clarence, with supplies sent by boat from Sydney, to the settlement later known as Grafton. From this time, a dray route was established on the Summerland Way from Casino to Grafton.

Early in 1843 Surveyor James Charles Burnett left Moreton Bay, under instructions from the Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell, to complete the work of Stapylton. By June, Surveyor Burnett had travelled the entire route of what was to become known as the Summerland Way.

The Summerland Way runs from Woodenbong to Grafton. Used in conjunction with the Mount Lindesay Highway and the Orara Way, the Summerland Way provides a 'shorter, scenic alternative' to the Pacific Highway.