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Island was discovered
Lieutenant James Cook had already sailed by in 1770, charting the outer reaches of Moreton Bay and naming several prominent features of the Island, including Point Lookout by way of warning fellow explorers to be aware of the rocky outcrop. -
Matthew Flinders came to Stradbroke Island
Matthew Flinders in 1803 came ashore to the island, in search of fresh water. -
Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons were shipwrecked on the island
Some twenty years later in 1823, three timber getters, Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parsons were shipwrecked on Moreton Island and spent eight months exploring around Moreton Bay. -
Minjerribah was renamed Stradbroke Island
In June 1827, Minjerribah was renamed Stradbroke Island by Governor Darling in reverence of the Honourable Captain J.H. Rous, son of the Earl of Stradbroke and also Viscount Dunwich. -
Aborigines and the Europeans conflict
Over the following years, tensions erupted between the convicts, local Aborigines and the Europeans. One of the first known conflicts erupted in 1828 when a cotton plantation was established at Myora, near Dunwich – the site was a favoured Aboriginal campsite and tempers flared. The site was inexplicably abandoned within six months. -
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Ten Violent Cashes between the Europeans and the Minjerribah people
Between 1831 and 1832 there were more than ten violent clashes between the Europeans and the Minjerribah people resulting in deaths on both sides. -
Opening of the Quarantine Station
On July 16 1850, Dunwich was proclaimed to be Moreton Bay’s Quarantine Station. Only a few weeks later a ship called the “Emigrant” pulled into port with Typhus onboard. All of her passengers were put into quarantine at Dunwich. Fifty six of them died and many are buried in the Dunwich cemetery. -
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Closing of the Quarantine Station
The quarantine station closed in 1864 and Peel Island was declared as Moreton Bay’s official quarantine station, and Dunwich was nominated to accommodate the Benevolent Asylum which was completed in 1867. -
Cambus Wallace
Prior to 1894 North and South Stradbroke were one and the same island. The two islands were separated after a barque; the "Cambus Wallace" was shipwrecked in a narrow passage off the island that was carrying explosives that had to be detonated in the passage. It is believed that the recovery of cargo from the Cambus Wallace, the detonations, and a severe storm caused the separation of the island creating North and South Stradbroke as we know it today. -
Oyster farming
By 1901 oyster farming was well established on the Island, but a plague of mud worm wreaked havoc on this enterprise. Oyster farming had been the biggest seafood industry in Queensland at that time, employing many Aboriginal and European workers for years. The outbreak of mud worm was devastating but not terminal, and through perseverance the industry survived and still prospers in Moreton Bay.