-
James Cook
Lieutenant James Cook charted the outside of Moreton Bay and named several features, including Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island. -
Minjerribah
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. -
Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons
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. -
John Oxley
Surveyor General John Oxley, botanist Allan Cunningham and surveyor Robert Hoddle visited Pulan and called it Cypress Point. It is now known as Amity Point after their ship. They met with the local residents and described the tracks, huts and other features they saw. -
JH Rous
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.4 • 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. Dunwic -
Cotton Plantation
A cotton plantation was established at Moongalba (Myora).8 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. -
Sovereign
In March the Sovereign sank in South Passage between Moreton and North
Stradbroke Island, which was still the most used entry to Moreton Bay.18 A group
of Moreton Island and Stradbroke Island Aborigines rescued 10 of the passengers
and were rewarded for their efforts with a boat and breast plates.19 As a result of
the accident, a pilot station was opened on northern Moreton Island and the North
Passage became the main entry.
• The entire Moreton Island Aboriginal population moved to Stradbroke I -
Emigrant
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.21 In all, 56 people died. Many are
buried in the Dunwich cemetery. -
Quarantine Station
The Dunwich quarantine station closed but the site continued to be used for the
next decade as the need arose. -
Dunwich Benevolent Asylum
The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum was set up to house Moreton Bay’s elderly and homeless. It occupied the former quarantine station buildings. The asylum was officially opened in 1867. -
Cambus Wallace
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. -
Marie Christensen
September: Matron Marie Christensen at the Myora Mission was charged withmurder, later reduced to manslaughter, of 5-year-old Cassy. The death occurred
after the Matron flogged the girl for swimming with the boys.42
• The first post office was opened in 1896. -
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
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.49 This is the origin of the name. -
Bert Clayton
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 wereaccommodated 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.6 -
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. -
Centaur
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.
• 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 -
Amazon - Karboora
vehicular ferry service started, using the Amazon, renamed the Karboora. It
landed on the beach just north of the Dunwich causeway.
• 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.
• 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 -
Zinc Corp
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 -
Mining
Consolidated Rutile began mining operations. Until then Titanium Zircon Industries
(TAZI) was the Island’s major employer.
• The four-bed Dunwich Hospital was opened on 17 November -
Barge Lookout and Stradbroke Ferries
Barge Lookout began operating from Cleveland and Stradbroke Ferries began operating firstly the Myora and then the Moongoolba