Stradbroke Island

Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two by the Jumpinpin Channel.

Archaeological evidence suggests the Quandamooka people lived on the island for at least 21,000 years prior to European settlement. It was also a traditional meeting place between the Quandamooka and the Nunukul and Gorenpul people. A 1964 survey found 121 pre-European dwelling sites with evidence of substantial wooden huts.

There are persistent stories of a 17th-century Spanish shipwreck known locally as the Stradbroke Island Galleon. There exists a body of Aboriginal oral history that may bear on some such incident, and several artefacts have been found in the sand dunes, including an English silver coin from 1597 and the blade of a 17th-century Spanish rapier. The evidence however is not conclusive.

Captain James Cook made the first documented European sighting of the island in 1770 and named Point Lookout, but did not land. The first historically documented contact between Europeans and the local Aborigines was 1803 when Matthew Flinders landed in search of fresh water. The next documented contact was between shipwreck survivors Thomas Pamphlett, Richard Parsons and John Finnegan landed on Moreton Island in April 1823, before being taken to Stradbroke Island by the natives where they were helped and provided with food, shelter and a canoe by the local Aborigines.

Initial white settlement of Stradbroke Island was at Amity Point where a pilot station was established in 1825. 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.

...
Wikipedia