Cleveland Heritage Trail
Walk Or Cycle
Updated: Feb 09, 2019
This flat 4km walk/cycle, which takes in quaint 19th century buildings in the bay’s best preserved historical village as well as a number of secluded seafront parks on the way to Cleveland Point, can be lengthened to around 6.5km depending on where you choose to start. If arriving by train, disembark at Cleveland Station, collect a map at the adjacent Visitor’s Centre and either walk or ride 1.5km via Middle St down to GJ Walter Park where the walk/ride begins. If arriving by car, park down at GJ Walter Park on the foreshore.
*Those bringing their 4-legged friends can let them off-leash at GJ Walter Park and before or after the walk make a stop at Little Bloomfield St Cafe & Wine Bar.
1. Cleveland Heritage Precinct – Beginning at GJ Walter Park where Governor Gipps (Governor of NSW) waded through mud to land in 1842, take Cross St to Shore St North past pretty St Paul’s Church c1873. A right turn onto Shore St leads past the giant curtained roots of Queensland’s oldest and largest banyan tree (several hundred years old) and Queensland’s oldest licensed pub, the Grand View.
Along the road to Cleveland Point, highlights include the old Cleveland Hotel c1860, started by ex-convict John Cassim who was the original publican to the Grand View, the old Raby Bay Railway Station and old school house (now an art gallery).
Further along on the seaside, the Harold Walker Park once contained a jetty that was the departure point for lepers to the nearby Peel Island Leper Colony and adjacent the old reputedly haunted Courthouse and jail circa 1849 is now a pleasant restaurant featuring an intimate dining nook in an old cell.
Arriving at the Point, a great place for a bucket of beer and prawns or fish’n’chips is the waterfront Lighthouse Cafe Bar whose neighbour is one of the colony’s first lighthouse circa 1865.
This walk takes around an hour to an hour and a half and as a ride about 40 mins to an hour.
Some recommended places to eat/drink include Little Bloomfield Cafe & Wine Bar, Twelve Boar, The Bench and, for delicious dessert, Jeppo Gelato.
