As early as 1828, hoop pine was being felled near the mouth of Oxley Creek for use in the Moreton Bay penal settlement and in the area that is now known as Chelmer and Graceville. In 1852, the first public bridge over the creek was built for the dray road that led to Ipswich. By the 1860s timber cutters from Brisbane were entering the Oxley Creek flood plain. The creek and tributaries were described as being surrounded by dense scrubland with patches of sub-tropical rainforest.