Mill Point Settlement Site, Historical settlement site near Lake Cootharaba, Queensland, Australia

Mill Point Settlement Site is a heritage-listed former company township at Elanda Point on Lake Cootharaba, built from about 1869 to the 1940s. Its remains include sawmill and building foundations, a tramway system with wooden rails wedged into sleepers of penda and ironbark, and timber yards extended with sawdust fill.

The settlement was founded in 1869 by Charles Samuel Russell and partners as a center for processing timber. It became an important part of Queensland's early industrial development before eventually declining and being abandoned.

The settlement was a private company township built around the Cootharaba Sawmills of McGhie, Luya and Co., with houses and a mill erected in 1870. Its name comes from the mill at Mill Point on Lake Cootharaba. Bullock and horse teams hauled timber on a wooden tramway of 3-foot gauge, and droghers such as the "Black Swan" and "Elanda" towed timber punts to Tewantin.

Interpretive signs are placed throughout the site to help visitors understand the layout and locations of different areas. Walking through the area allows you to explore the archaeological remains and get a sense of how the settlement was spread out.

The sawmill township was built on swampy ground that was progressively filled with sawdust to create and extend the timber yards. Logs were initially rafted down Kin Kin Creek and held behind a breakwater of two rows of piles. Sawn timber went by droghers such as the "Black Swan" and "Elanda" to Tewantin, then by the S.S. Culgoa to Brisbane.