A quiet upgrade to the water supply at Mapleton’s beloved Old School House is the latest chapter in a decades-long story of community determination, and a reminder of just how much volunteer effort holds this landmark together.
When a new water tank arrived at The Old School House (TOSH) on Obi Obi Road earlier this year, most people driving past would have barely noticed. But for the volunteers of the Mapleton and District Community Association (MADCA), it marked the completion of months of planning, grant writing, and coordination, and another hard-won step in keeping one of the Blackall Range’s historic community buildings in service.
The current works follow the installation of a new path in October 2025, part of an ongoing programme of improvements MADCA has been steadily progressing at the site. The latest stage is what the association has informally dubbed the “Two Pipes and a Tank” project. Sky Plumbing completed the first phase in early 2026, installing two new downpipes on the Emu Walk side of the building and connecting them to existing stormwater infrastructure. Water from that side had previously overflowed the gutters and drained beneath the structure, causing ongoing erosion, a stage that cost $1,949.20. The new rainwater tank, funded through the grant-writing efforts of MADCA’s former president Peter Hulme, arrived in March. A small team of volunteers removed the old tank, rolled the new one in from the street, and completed the installation, along with a new filter for the building’s water supply. It is, in its quiet way, a moment worth marking: the building has relied on rainwater tanks since the day it was built, and the very first, a single 1,000-gallon vessel, served the entire household of its first occupant for years. More on that shortly.
The work doesn’t stop there. Sunshine Coast Regional Council (SCRC) has contracted specialists to quote on rectifying structural problems with the main building, including a full inspection of its stumps and foundations. An SCRC arborist has also assessed a White Beech tree at the rear of the property, which requires comprehensive attention. A thorough asbestos inspection was conducted by RedOHM in February, and a test-and-tag audit of all electrical equipment is underway, with completion expected by June. MADCA has also submitted a grant application to the Gambling Community Benefit Fund for a much-needed repaint of the building in its heritage colours.
That the building needs this level of attention is, in part, a function of its age and remarkable history. Construction of TOSH began in 1916, and on 30 April 1917, the first headmaster of Mapleton State School, Francis Watt, moved in with his family. The original Queensland State Archives plans, held today by MADCA, show a handsome, high-set timber residence on Flaxton Drive, where the school car park now stands: four bedrooms, a dining room, a sitting room, a kitchen with an annex for a wood-fired stove, and generous verandahs wrapping the building on multiple sides. The entire household ran off that single 1,000-gallon rainwater tank.
The building served its purpose for the better part of a century. Then, in 1997, a proposal emerged to demolish it. A group of Mapleton residents affiliated with MADCA mounted a campaign to save it, and in May of that year the building was relocated, intact, to its current site at 17 Obi Obi Road, with Maroochy Shire Council funding the move, restumping, and initial repairs. MADCA signed a lease to operate the site, and a garden group was established to landscape the grounds.
The relocation, however, came with complications that MADCA is still managing today. The site at Obi Obi Road was formerly a sawmill, and much of the building’s foundation rests on sawdust, meaning the structure shifts during wet and dry periods, and maintenance is an ongoing task. Doors need adjusting. Boards come loose. The pump requires attention. MADCA estimates its members collectively contribute around 300 volunteer hours per year, approximately $12,000 worth of labour, just keeping things running. Much of this effort goes unnoticed by the wider community, there are no signs marking a fixed door or a cleared drain, but without it, the building’s slow decline would be difficult to reverse.
The building is owned by Sunshine Coast Regional Council (SCRC), and MADCA holds a permit to use it for community purposes. Under that arrangement, SCRC is responsible for structural maintenance, while MADCA handles day-to-day upkeep. Part of the building serves as MADCA’s office, notably, the original sitting room that Francis Watt’s family once gathered in, clearly visible on the 1916 plans, now the space where the community association has its office. TOSH is not heritage listed, a fact MADCA notes brings both advantages and constraints. Peter puts it plainly: “TOSH can be viewed as a part of the heritage of the village. It should be preserved, not as a museum, but as an example of how our heritage facilities can be repurposed to meet the needs of the community.”
That repurposing is most visible through the front door. Since relocating to Obi Obi Road, TOSH has housed a community meeting centre, an arts and crafts gallery called Enigmas, and the Katie Rose boutique for the Sunshine Coast Hospice. In 2018, RangeCare opened its Op Shop at TOSH with a clear and community-centred vision: to create a warm, welcoming space that supported RangeCare’s mission while giving locals a place to connect, browse, and donate quality preloved goods. From the beginning, TOSH felt like the right fit. The building’s history, character, and central location made it a natural home for an organisation rooted in community care.
In those early days, the shop quickly became more than a retail space. Volunteers sorted donations and arranged displays, neighbours dropped in for a chat, and the local community embraced the concept with warmth and generosity. The shelves filled with donated treasures, and the proceeds began flowing directly into RangeCare’s essential services for older residents and people living with disability across the hinterland. A mini-bus purchased with Op Shop funds, for example, now transports community members to activities and services across the Sunshine Coast region. Beyond the funds raised, the shop diverts a steady stream of quality goods from landfill, giving preloved items a second life in the hands of people who genuinely need them.
What started as a humble shopfront has since grown into something harder to categorise. A typical morning begins with volunteers sorting new donations, cosy coats in winter, bright summer pieces when the weather warms, and the occasional unexpected treasure tucked among household items. Before long, the regulars arrive: retirees who enjoy a chat, parents searching for affordable children’s clothes, young families setting up homes, vintage enthusiasts, and tourists who stumble in and leave, as the RangeCare team describe it, delighted by “the little Op Shop in Mapleton.” Volunteers greet customers by name and notice when a familiar face hasn’t been in for a while.
It is the small moments, though, that volunteers remember longest. A young mother arrived one morning, baby strapped to her front, hoping to find a Book Week costume for her daughter at Mapleton School just down the road. A volunteer helped her search through the children’s books and clothing racks, and she left with everything she needed, and a few preloved items for the baby besides. Another regular would stop in on their morning walk, never in a rush, sharing tips about local events or recommending a good spot for coffee, their visits a small but reliable thread in the fabric of the shop’s day.
And there was the customer who found a vintage teacup identical to one her grandmother had owned. She held it gently and said it felt like reconnecting with an old memory. These are the encounters, volunteers say, that remind them the Op Shop isn’t just a place to buy things, it’s a place where people feel supported, understood, and connected.
For MADCA, the arrangement is mutually sustaining. The sublease income helps fund community projects, including the annual Christmas Concert and the Meet the Candidates forum, while the Op Shop’s presence keeps TOSH active and visible six days out of seven. MADCA estimates it spends around $4,000 of its own funds each year on facility maintenance, on top of whatever grants it can secure. The total annual cost of maintaining the building is estimated at around $8,000.
Whether that model remains viable long-term depends, in no small part, on continued grant funding, volunteer commitment, and the goodwill of SCRC. MADCA is candid about the precariousness of the arrangement: without an active tenant and a committed management body, the building could, as Peter warns, “wither”, as the old Forestry Office did before the Men’s Shed stepped in to restore it.
For now, though, the new tank is in, the filter is running, and the Op Shop doors are open. On a quiet morning in Mapleton, that counts for quite a lot.
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