Bedington Boarding House

 

HISTORY OF

“BEDINGTON BOARDING HOUSE”

 

Bill Bedington was born in England in1870 and sailed to Australia where he began working as chairman with the Queensland Railways.  He was originally stationed at Mellum Creek and there met and married 18 year old Esther Cramp in 1888.

The young couple came to Eumundi where Bill worked as a fettler and later became a ganger of lengths, a position he held for 25 years.  Meanwhile Mrs Bedington took up her duties as Gatehouse Keeper and Post Mistress at the Railway Station.

In 1909 they moved to Cook Street and set up a boarding house for workers of the various occupations around Eumundi.  They had 3 daughters, Ethel, Annie and Eileen and 3 sons, George, Bill and Charles. One of their daughters (Eileen) married and lived in part of the boarding house until 1936.

In 1930 Bill retired from the Railway and they went to live on a farm in Doonan where they took up dairying for another 26 years (Bedington Road).  When they retired from the farm they moved to Cooroy where Bill busied himself in the garden.  Esther died in 1961 at age 91 and Bill 3 years later at 94. He attributed his good health to hard work, abstinence and no worry. 

The original boarding house has since been divided into two parts; one half was moved to the end of Cook Street while the other remains on its original site - now Eumundi Physio.