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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. -
The Help
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. -
Moreton Island
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.1 -
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. • 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. Dunwi -
Cotton Plantation
A cotton plantation was established at Moongalba (Myora).
It was abandoned not
long after. -
Between 1831 and 1832
November: 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.
• January 1831-December 1832: 10 or more violent clashes occurred between
Stradbroke Island Aborigines and Europeans stationed at Dunwich and Amity. -
Moreton Bay
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. -
The 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. -
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.
• 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. -
Oysters
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. -
The 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. -
First Tourism
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 -
The 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. -
Moongalba
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. -
First Ferry
A vehicular ferry service started, using the Amazon, renamed the Karboora. It
landed on the beach just north of the Dunwich causeway.76
• 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.77
• 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 da -
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
Barge Lookout began operating from Cleveland and Stradbroke Ferries began
operating firstly the Myora and then the Moongoolba.