Cooroy Library

Imagine reading your new book on the grass roof of your library. You can do this and more at the opening of the new Cooroy Library on Sunday 6 June.

Mill Place, Cooroy is about to come alive when Sunshine Coast Council opens the $9.7 million state-of-the-art library with a free family fun day.

Cooroy Library Opening hours

Monday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm Thursday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Tuesday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm Friday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Wednesday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm Saturday 9.00 am - 12.00 noon

Mill Place

Cooroy was established in the late 1800s as a logging centre to mill timber from the surrounding land. As settlement spread rapidly from the central points on the railway, so did the sawmills, and eventually there were in excess of thirty mills. The life of the majority of these small mills was between ten and twenty years, or until the nearby timber had been cleared. Only a few sawmills continued into the 1990s.

Strakers sawmills at Cooran and Cooroy dominated the area in the period after the Second World War and the Cooroy Mill expanded to become the largest hardwood mill in Queensland, until it was closed in October 2000 by the Queensland Government.

A Cooroy taskforce comprising community and Council representatives was formed and, after lengthy negotiations with the State Government, the site of the Cooroy Lower Mill Site was transferred to Noosa Council.

The Cooroy Lower Mill Board was formed in late 2004 and given primary responsibility for developing a strategic vision and master plan to guide the development of the site. The dedication of the Cooroy community and the Board, in collaboration with Council and State Government, has enabled the re-development of the former sawmill site for the benefit of the Cooroy community, in the form of Mill Place.

Mill Place facilities include the Woodworkers Cottage (11) which is home to the Cooroora Woodworkers who are happy to provide advice on all things woodworking, the restored Boiler House and Kilns (12&13) which are home to Pepper's Ghost who provides a brief history of the mill site to visitors, the Cooroy Butter Factory Arts Centre (1) which presents a changing program of local and touring art and heritage exhibitions with free admission, an ongoing workshop program, and a well-equipped ceramics workshop and kiln firing services, and the new state-of-the-art Cooroy Library, a vibrant and innovative community space.