Development of the Colony

  • John Oxley sent to look for new penal sites

  • Period: to

    Queensland 1800's

  • Moreton Bay convict settlement transferred to the banks of Brisbane River

  • German Missionaries bring Christianity to the Aborigines in Brisbane

  • The Moreton Bay district is officially opened to free settlement.

  • Queenslands first newspaper the Moreton Bay Couerior is published

  • The proclamation establishing the Colony of Queensland is read to wild applause

  • In April, the first telegraph line in Queensland is established, revolutionising communication in the colony.

  • The Kanakas (Melanesian people from South Pacific) arrive in Queensland to work in Queensland's cane fields (until 1904).

  • Queensland's first rail line opens between Ipswich and Grandchester.

  • Free primary education is introduced in Queensland, the first in Australia.

  • Queen Victoria grants the Queensland Coat of Arms, the oldest State Arms in Australia, to the Colony of Queensland.

  • The Act also gave the government the right to exercise guardianship over all Indigenous children in the colony.