History of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands - The Heritage Trail

Part1- Early Inhabitants and arrival of the Europeans

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Archeological evidence tells us that people have lived on the islands in Moreton Bay for at least 20,000 years. Minjerriba (North Stradbroke Island) and surrounds were the home of the Nunukul and Gorenpul people, while the Koobenpul lived on the mainland coastal strip. The three tribes were members of the Yuggera language group that stretched from Moreton Bay to the Bremer river and Lockyer Creek.

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The sea has always been an important food source for people of the bay islands and middens can still be found. (middens are mounds of refuse left behind at favourite camping and feasting sites.) The sea’s produce also attracted newcomers with oystermen and fishermen among some of the first non-indigenous residents on the island.

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The first known visit to the bay islands by a European was in July 1799 when Matthew Flinders in the Norfolk entered Moreton Bay, the first European explorer known to do so. He landed on Coochimudlo Island during his search for a navigable river in the Southern part of Moreton Bay.

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During Moreton Bay’s convict period (1824 – 1842) the bay islands provided timber for the settlements, with convicts from the small Dunwich base on North Stradbroke Island sent out in gangs to harvest the timber from neighboring islands.

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One convict, Tim Shea, managed to escape from Dunwich in 1834 and lived on Macleay Island for a number of years. The island was known as Tim Shea’s Island until it was renamed Macleay Island in 1840. Perhaps Shea used his time in the timber gangs to reconnoitre a suitable place to hide when he eventually escaped.

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The bay islands continued to provide timber well into the 20th century, supplying the mills on the mainland as well as meeting island demands. Notable timbergetters of the 18905 included Gilbert Burnett and his sons, who acquired land on the islands specifically for its timber. Burnett built the Eucalypta to transport timber from the islands to his sawmill on Hilliards Creek, Wellington Point.

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Oystering was also a major activity around the islands. At one stage, virtually every suitable inch of southern Moreton Bay was taken up by an oyster lease and many makeshift camps were set up on the adjoining Islands. One of the initial attractions of the oyster industry was burning the shells to produce lime rather than the fish itself, as lime was in great demand for cement in the building industry in the growing colony.

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The islands' many middens were excellent sources of oyster shells, which, combined with the ravages of development, partly explains why middens are now rarely found. As the Iimeburners ran out of middens and other deposits, they turned to live oysters, burning the oyster as well as its shell. This practice was banned in 1863 and as a result the live oyster trade took over. Oystering continued on the islands until the early 20th century, when disease and overfishing made it unprofitable.

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In the mid-1860s settlers began taking up land on the islands for cotton and sugar cultivation. As on the mainland, these crops gave way to fruit and vegetable cultivation from about the 1880s, setting the pattern for the next 100 years. Some farmers swam cattle across to the islands and set up dairy herds.

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Acknowledgement for this and the following pages of the Bays Islands History to The Redland City Council Southern Moreton Bay Heritage Trail.

For further information phone 1300 667 386