Stradbroke Island - European Settlement

European Settlement

The first historically documented contact between Europeans and the Stradbroke Island Aborigines was 1803 when Matthew Flinders called in to take on freshwater supplies. The next documented contact was between shipwreck survivors Thomas Pamphlett, Richard Parsons and John Finnegan who were helped and provided with food, shelter and a canoe by the local Stradbroke Aborigines. There are persistent stories that there was an earlier European contact with survivors of a Spanish or Portuguese shipwreck known locally as the Stradbroke Island Galleon. There exists a body of oral history and some artefacts which are called on in support of this notion, but it is a contentious issue.

Initial white settlement of Stradbroke Island was at Amity Point where a pilot station was established. More fertile soil, good sources of fresh water and a better harbour was found at the present location of Dunwich so settlement soon concentrated there. Dunwich became a staging point where larger ships were unloaded of cargo which was placed into smaller vessels to be carried over the sand bars of Brisbane River and up to the penal settlement of Brisbane. The Dunwich settlement was in close proximity to a major Aboriginal camp at Myora Spring. Whites and Europeans generally lived in reasonable harmony though there were moments of conflict as would be expected within the context of two very different cultures meeting for the first time.

Early efforts to establish agriculture on the island, especially plans to grow cotton north of Dunwich, resulted in conflicts with the local Aboriginal tribes. In March 1830, the 57th regiment seeking reprisals for the murder of a guard, attacked a group of Ngugi people near a lagoon on Moreton Island. This was likely the first significant massacre of indigenous people in the region.

A quarantine station was established at the northern end of the island in July 1850. This was due to its proximity to the shipping route, its isolation and to there being a supply of fresh water available.