Newark-Upon-Trent in Nottinghamshire, the son of Thomas Fitzherbert Hawkins and wife Elizabeth of Bathurst fame, and it does not seem that he or his family had any personal connections to Beaudesert in England. Ned Hawkins moved on, not long after taking up Beaudesert station, to take up Boonara Station in the South Burnett. In 1842 Nindooinbah pastoral run was established. In 1850 the Nindooinbah Homestead was built. The town was settled in 1847, on Yugambeh lands, and has grown to a small, bustling centre. The town was originally set out in a grid pattern; however, several of the streets followed cart tracks. The area was originally settled for growing cotton and sheep. However, the area is also notoriously short of water and the cotton was not a successful crop. Hoop pine was very successfully collected from the area. In 1863 the cotton workers were indentured labourers from the South Sea Islands, the first such use in Queensland. In the 1880s, the Cobb & Co stagecoaches ran between Beaudesert and Jimboomba. Located in the Beaudesert Historical Museum is the Milbanks Pioneer Cottage. This cottage was originally built in 1875 by Patrick Milbanks on his Kerry property, out of local hand-hewn timbers, slats and shingle roof. It has four-poster bed, large cedar sideboard and numerous articles that portray the life of the early pioneers. It was donated to the museum by Patrick Milbanks's grandchildren and relocated to its present site in 1979. Upper Beaudesert Provisional School opened circa 1882 and closed circa 1885. Beaudesert Provisional School opened on 26 March 1882 but closed on 9 September 1886. On 13 September 1887, it reopened as Beaudesert State School. On 15 August 1885 at Stretton's Hotel at Beaudesert, auctioneer C.J. Warner offered 125 town lots in the Beaudesert Township Extension estate. The lots were mostly and were on Brisbane Street, Tubber Street, Gordon Street, Birman Street, James Street, Edward Street and Alice Street. The advertising noted that the Queensland Government had voted the funds to extend the railway line from Logan Village to Beaudesert. The Beaudesert railway line from Bethania to Beaudesert opened on 16 May 1888. Beaudesert railway station () served the town. Use of the passenger services declined with the increasing ownership of cars following World War II, leading to the termination of the passenger services in 1961. However the Beaudesert abattoir and the dairy farmers continued to use the freight services