Aboriginals had long known the Maleny district, on the Blackall Range behind Nambour, as an area where the important Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwilli) grew. The first Europeans to live in the district were transient timber getters who heard from local Aborigines of the huge red cedar (Toona australis) trees on the Blackall Range. While timber was cut, it was not always shifted due to the lack of roads and steepness of the terrain. The first non-indigenous person to settle in the area was Isaac Burgess, who took up residence on his selection on 1 January 1872; others followed in the late 1870s. They built their homes using pit-sawn timber from their own land. Pits were dug near where the trees stood and there they were sawn down to scantlings and boardings, and afterwards planed, tongued and grooved by hand as required. As the red cedar was cut out attention turned to the beech trees and Maleny pioneers of the timber industry include Isaac Burgess, Francis and William Dunlop, Joseph McCarthy, and JD Campbell.