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James Cook
Lieutenant James Cook charted the outside of Moreton Bay and named several features, including Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island. -
First black and Whtie Encounter
A group of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) people helped Matthew Flinders’ crew find water when they came ashore near Cylinder Beach on their way back to Sydney. This was possibly the first black-white contact on the Island. -
Travelling in Morton Bay
Timbergetters Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons were shipwrecked on Moreton Island and spent the next eight months travelling around Moreton Bay. The Noonucals at Pulan (Amity Point) looked after them for nearly six weeks. They housed, fed and advised the trio on canoe making, and saw them off some months later in the craft they’d made on the island. During their time on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), the three experienced bora gatherings, and ceremonial, celebratory and gladatorial events. -
Rensamed Stradbroke Island
In June Minjerribah was renamed Stradbroke Island by Governor Darling in honor
of the Honourable Captain JH Rous, son of the Earl of Stradbroke and also Viscount Dunwich. Rous was commander of HMS Rainbow, the first ship of war to enter Moreton Bay. Darling also named Dunwich, Rainbow Reach and Rous’
Channel -
Thoughts of Morton Bay Settlement
Commandant Patrick Logan selected Dunwich as a possible site for the Moreton Bay settlement following concerns about Brisbane’s suitability due to obstructions on Brisbane River. Dunwich was formerly known as Green Point. -
Small Settlement
In November Logan was instructed to establish a small settlement at Dunwich as a loading/unloading depot. A waterfront causeway built by convicts during this time is still used by the Stradbroke ferries. -
Cotton Plantation
A cotton plantation was established at Moongalba (Myora). It was abandoned not long after. -
Period: to
Violent Clashes
10 or more violent clashes occurred between Stradbroke Island Aborigines and Europeans stationed at Dunwich and Amity. -
Timber Depot
The fourth Commandant of the Moreton Bay penal colony, Captain James Clunie, requested that the Dunwich settlement be closed. His request was granted. After it closed, it became a timber depot. -
Convicts
The schooner Caledonia was seized by convicts and moored off Amity Point. -
Diseases
On 16 July Dunwich was proclaimed Moreton Bay’s quarantine station. Only weeks later, the immigrant ship Emigrant arrived with typhus on board. The passengers were put into quarantine at Dunwich. In all, 56 people died. Many are buried in the Dunwich cemetery -
Quarantine
The Dunwich quarantine station closed but the site continued to be used for the next decade as the need arose. -
Billy North
Billy North was granted a lease over Point Lookout. For nearly 40 years, he ran cattle, at one stage supplying beef to the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum. He also operated a fish cannery at Two Mile outside Dunwich. The quality of his canned
fish was recognised by a medal from the National Agricultural and Industrial Association in 1908. -
Shipwreck
A barque, the Cambus Wallace, was wrecked on the ocean side of a very narrow part of Stradbroke Island. Two years later, a southerly gale led to the breakthrough of the strip and from this time on, North and South Stradbroke have been two
separate islands. It is believed that the breakthrough was hastened by earlier efforts to salvage the cargo. In particular, the ship’s cargo of explosives had been blown up, creating huge holes in the sand dunes. -
Oyster Fisheries
By this time, Moreton Bay’s oyster fisheries were slowly being destroyed by an outbreak of mud worm. Oystering had been the biggest seafood industry in southern Qld for years, employing hundreds of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people over decades. Many oystermen lived in rough camps on the Bay Islands and Stradbroke. Dwellings comprised simple shacks made of bark and slab, with two-room cottages built as incomes improved. -
Prosperity Sunk
The Prosperity sank off Point Lookout on its way from Sydney with sugar machinery for Mourilyan Harbour in North Queensland. Five survivors were cared for at Point Lookout before returning home. In 1956 a skeleton and boot were uncovered in the sand on Deadman’s Beach, and it is believed they were the remains of the Prosperity’s mate or cook. This is the origin of the name. -
Land Buying
Point Lookout’s first tourism venture started in the 1930s when Bert Clayton bought land above South Gorge to establish a guest house. The first guests were accommodated in tents which were slowly replaced by one-room cabins. He sold up in 1946 and the new owners, the Bulcocks, renamed the complex Samarinda. -
Point Lookout Lighthouse
The Point Lookout lighthouse was built. Materials for its construction were landed on a Point Lookout beach, and the cylinders for the light were constructed on the beach and carried up to the site. As a result the beach became known as Cylinder Beach. -
First Bus Service
The first bus service started from Amity Point to Point Lookout. It was started by Bert Clayton, who ran Point Lookout’s first tourist venture at the top of South Gorge. -
Design
A design was drawn up for the township of Point Lookout. -
Hayles Cruises
Hayles Cruises began a passenger service to Amity. After the Dunwich asylum closed, Hayles extended the service to include Dunwich. -
Last Dugong Hunter
Sam Rollands died. He was said to be one of the last of the dugong hunters. He had caught his last dugong in 1935. -
Second School
The second Amity Point school, the Amity Point Provisional School, opened on 19 October 1937, when the Cylinder Beach Provisional School was moved to a site about a mile from Amity. The Cylinder Beach school had been set up for the children living in a Public Estates Improvement (PEI) Camp housing the families of men working on a road between Amity and Point Lookout. After about eight months the Point Lookout end of the road was finished, and the PEI camp and the school were moved from Cylinde. -
Hospital Ship
The Australian hospital ship Centaur was torpedoed off Stradbroke Island on 14 May 1943. A total of 268 lives were lost and only 64 people survived. -
Moongalba
The Moongalba/Myora mission was closed. Most residents moved to One Mile where the Moongalba buildings were re erected. The Moongalba families weren’t allowed to live in Dunwich. -
Ferry
A vehicular ferry service started, using the Amazon, renamed the Karboora. It landed on the beach just north of the Dunwich causeway -
Asylum
The former benevolent asylum land at Dunwich was subdivided and offered on perpetual leases in a State Government bid to develop Dunwich as a tourist resort. -
Life Savers
The first life-saving patrols started at Point Lookout. The following year the Point Lookout club became affiliated with the Queensland Surf Life Saving Association. The army tent used in the early days was replaced by the club’s first permanent clubhouse in 1950. -
Mining
Zinc Corp began sand mining on Stradbroke Island. The first shipment left the Island in 1950. The sand was shovelled by hand from Main Beach and trucked to Dunwich. The mining partly solved the unemployment problems on the Island. -
More Mining
Consolidated Rutile began mining operations. Until then Titanium Zircon Industries (TAZI) was the Island’s major employer. -
Hospital Opened
The four-bed Dunwich Hospital was opened on 17 November. -
Lookout
Barge Lookout began operating from Cleveland and Stradbroke Ferries began operating firstly the Myora and then the Moongoolba.