During his exploration of the Brisbane River with surveyor John Oxley in 1824, explorer Allan Cunningham had observed the Dividing Range to the south-west.
In 1827, Cunningham led a party to explore the land beyond this range, approaching from the south and inland, from New England.
Leaving the Hunter River in April 1827, Cunningham made the first recorded European discovery of the Darling Downs, along Glengallen Creek, on 5 June 1827.

On 11 June 1827, Cunningham identified a possible dray route (later known as Spicers Gap) through the Dividing Range to the coast.
Cunningham returned to Sydney where he reported to Governor Ralph Darling on the quality of the country, the timber and the potential for an access route to Moreton Bay.
In 1828, Cunningham returned to Moreton Bay to search for the pass through the Great Dividing Range, he travelled south-west from Ipswich and discovered Cunningham's Gap in the Great Dividing Range on 21 August 1828.
Although Cunningham suspected that the newly identified pass was not the same one which he had discovered in 1827 (Spicers Gap), a search further north failed to find the other pass and he returned to Cunningham's Gap, which he then incorrectly assumed must have been the pass he identified in 1827.

Cunningham reported to the New South Wales Government on the economic significance of the pass which connected the coast lands with the extensive pastoral country to the west, however, it was not until the late 1830s and early 1840s that pastoralists began to explore the potential of the Darling Downs.

The Leslie Brothers settled the grazing lands of the southern Downs in 1840.
Other squatters soon followed.
Darling Downs pastoralists were faced with an expensive 800 kilometres (500 mi) trip to Maitland to carry wool to port and return with supplies to the stations.
A direct route to the Moreton Bay settlement was needed.
Leslie and Hodgson were able to obtain permits from Sir George Gipps, the Governor, in 1840 to have supplies sent to Brisbane; however, they still had problems with getting their stores from Brisbane over the Dividing Range to the Darling Downs.
Cunningham's Gap proved almost impassable to heavy vehicles and other dray routes to the coast were sought.
Alternative routes over the range included Gorman's Gap near the headwaters of Hodgson's Creek, and Hodgson's Gap via Drayton.

Squatters in the Warwick district continued to search for a southern pass through the range, and in April 1847, Henry Alphen rediscovered the pass identified by Cunningham in 1827, between Mount Mitchell and Spicers Peak.
Spicer's Peak was named by Cunningham after Peter Beauclerk Spicer, a superintendent of convicts at Moreton Bay, who discovered the mountain while looking for convicts who had escaped from the Moreton Bay penal settlement.
Mount Mitchell was named after the explorer, Thomas Mitchell.
The pass, subsequently known as Spicers Gap, was about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Cunningham's Gap.

The discovery was announced in the Moreton Bay Courier, through which an appeal for construction of a road through Spicers Gap was launched.
Little public support was forthcoming and squatters Patrick Leslie and Fred Bracker put up most of the money to clear the road and lay a "corduroy" or pine log surface.
By early August, two drays had travelled to Ipswich using the new road, saving three days and approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi).

Around this time, licensed inns began catering for travellers and two inns were constructed along the new road, Balbi's at Clumber and the Main Range Hotel near the pioneer cemetery in the Main Range National Park.
Alphen was rewarded for his discovery of the route through Spicers Gap by the New South Wales authorities and he built a public house.
The building was weatherboard with a shingle roof, including kitchen, stables, stockyards and paddocks.
Known as Alphen's Inn or the Woolpack Inn, the licence was taken over by William Jubb in 1851.
After 12 years of occupation however, the inn was dismantled in 1858, owing to disputes over land ownership.

In the 1850s, fu
During his exploration of the Brisbane River with surveyor John Oxley in 1824, explorer Allan Cunningham had observed the Dividing Range to the south-west. In 1827, Cunningham led a party to explore the land beyond this range, approaching from the south and inland, from New England. Leaving the Hunter River in April 1827, Cunningham made the first recorded European discovery of the Darling Downs, along Glengallen Creek, on 5 June 1827.
On 11 June 1827, Cunningham identified a possible dray route (later known as Spicers Gap) through the Dividing Range to the coast. Cunningham returned to Sydney where he reported to Governor Ralph Darling on the quality of the country, the timber and the potential for an access route to Moreton Bay. In 1828, Cunningham returned to Moreton Bay to search for the pass through the Great Dividing Range, he travelled south-west from Ipswich and discovered Cunningham's Gap in the Great Dividing Range on 21 August 1828. Although Cunningham suspected that the newly identified pass was not the same one which he had discovered in 1827 (Spicers Gap), a search further north failed to find the other pass and he returned to Cunningham's Gap, which he then incorrectly assumed must have been the pass he identified in 1827.
Cunningham reported to the New South Wales Government on the economic significance of the pass which connected the coast lands with the extensive pastoral country to the west, however, it was not until the late 1830s and early 1840s that pastoralists began to explore the potential of the Darling Downs.
The Leslie Brothers settled the grazing lands of the southern Downs in 1840. Other squatters soon followed. Darling Downs pastoralists were faced with an expensive 800 kilometres (500 mi) trip to Maitland to carry wool to port and return with supplies to the stations. A direct route to the Moreton Bay settlement was needed. Leslie and Hodgson were able to obtain permits from Sir George Gipps, the Governor, in 1840 to have supplies sent to Brisbane; however, they still had problems with getting their stores from Brisbane over the Dividing Range to the Darling Downs. Cunningham's Gap proved almost impassable to heavy vehicles and other dray routes to the coast were sought. Alternative routes over the range included Gorman's Gap near the headwaters of Hodgson's Creek, and Hodgson's Gap via Drayton.
Squatters in the Warwick district continued to search for a southern pass through the range, and in April 1847, Henry Alphen rediscovered the pass identified by Cunningham in 1827, between Mount Mitchell and Spicers Peak. Spicer's Peak was named by Cunningham after Peter Beauclerk Spicer, a superintendent of convicts at Moreton Bay, who discovered the mountain while looking for convicts who had escaped from the Moreton Bay penal settlement. Mount Mitchell was named after the explorer, Thomas Mitchell. The pass, subsequently known as Spicers Gap, was about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Cunningham's Gap.
The discovery was announced in the Moreton Bay Courier, through which an appeal for construction of a road through Spicers Gap was launched. Little public support was forthcoming and squatters Patrick Leslie and Fred Bracker put up most of the money to clear the road and lay a "corduroy" or pine log surface. By early August, two drays had travelled to Ipswich using the new road, saving three days and approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi).
Around this time, licensed inns began catering for travellers and two inns were constructed along the new road, Balbi's at Clumber and the Main Range Hotel near the pioneer cemetery in the Main Range National Park. Alphen was rewarded for his discovery of the route through Spicers Gap by the New South Wales authorities and he built a public house. The building was weatherboard with a shingle roof, including kitchen, stables, stockyards and paddocks. Known as Alphen's Inn or the Woolpack Inn, the licence was taken over by William Jubb in 1851. After 12 years of occupation however, the inn was dismantled in 1858, owing to disputes over land ownership.
In the 1850s, fu
Spicers Gap Road