Development of the Noosa area was underway by the mid-1860s with timber getters active along the Noosa River and Kin Kin Creek, and the now heritage-listed Mill Point sawmill was established c. 1870 at Lake Cootharaba to supply the Gympie goldfield with timber.

A railway line had been opened from Maryborough to the Gympie goldfields in 1881, and this was extended south to Cooran in June 1889, and then to Cooroy in April 1891.

Construction of the North Coast line continued until 1924, at which point Brisbane was finally linked to Cairns.

Given the lack of a decent road north of Brisbane prior to the construction of the Bruce Highway in the 1930s, people generally took the train to Landsborough to access Maleny or Caloundra; to Palmwoods to get to Montville, Buderim, Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headland and Maroochydore; to Nambour for Mapleton, Maroochydore or Coolum; and to Cooroy for Tewantin and Noosa Heads.

[2] In 1890 plans were prepared for 3rd Class shelter sheds to be constructed at North Arm, Eumundi and Cooroy.

This configuration of ladies room-waiting shed-office was a common feature of Queensland Railway's standard designs, although the size of each section could be increased, and smaller versions might dispense with one or more of the components.

[2] The only extensions to the station building since 1916 have been a small skillion alcove at the north end of the east side of office, where a water tank was once located, and a ramp has been added to the eastern entrance of the waiting shed.

[2] Other changes at Cooroy station over the years included the installation of trunkline telephone facilities in 1909, and gas lights in 1920.

Post and telegraph services operated from the railway station between 1892 and 1911, and level crossing gates interlocked with signals were installed in 1912 (not extant).

The platform was extended in 1913, and in 1915 a new loop siding was added for the Wide Bay Co-Operative Dairy Association Ltd's new butter factory.

[2] Buildings that are no longer extant include a cream shed to the south of the office (shown on a 1909 site plan) that was moved to Gympie in 1918.

This cafe was operating by Christmas 1912, was sold to the Railway Department in August 1915, and was burnt down under suspicious circumstances on 1 October 1915.

A 1988 plan of the railway complex at Cooroy shows an inspector's house, inspector's hut, and fettler's hut to the west of the line, south of the road bridge, and an assistant station master's house north of the bridge.

A small skillion extension has been added to the north of the office, on the east side of the waiting shed.

The main entrance to the station building consists of stairs and a ramp up to the east side of the waiting shed.

[2] The men's and women's toilets have exposed studs to the interior, and have original windows on the north and east sides.

The east and north walls of the waiting shed are also single skin, with the studs exposed internally.

The former signal cabin stands on a thick concrete slab, and has an external water tank on its eastern side.

[2] The Cooroy railway station was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 August 2008 having satisfied the following criteria.

Cooroy railway station is important in demonstrating the extension of the North Coast line during the late 1880s and early 1890s to link Gympie, Maryborough and Bundaberg with Brisbane, which facilitated the extraction of timber from the North Coast area from the late nineteenth century and the expansion of agricultural settlement (principally associated with dairying) from the early twentieth century.

The layout of the Cooroy station building, which includes toilets, a waiting shelter, a ticket office, and a signal cabin, is also representative of the standard Queensland Railways designs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

[2] The Cooroy station building has changed little since its extension in 1916, and its associated goods shed (c. 1910) is also in near-original condition.