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ASYLUMS

Moreton Bay had its share of Government institutions. First established was the Benevolent

Asylum at Dunwich in 1864 to house those who were unable to look after themselves. Such

people included the aged, the infirm, alcoholics, and those suffering from epilepsy and

consumption (Tuberculosis). This remained until 1946 when it was transferred to Eventide at

Sandgate.

Next was the prison at St Helena that ran as such from 1867 until 1933.

The Lazaret at Peel Island was another asylum this time for Queenslands Leprosy patients.

Established in 1907, it was to remain in operation until 1959 but even to this day, the stigma

of leprosy hangs over the island.

RECREATION

With indoor entertainment limited in the frontier society of the late 1800s, Moreton Bay

became a major source of recreation. With no electricity yet invented to operate fans or the airconditioning we are becoming ever more dependent on today, Brisbane must have been a real

hot house during the humid summer months. No wonder that the Bays cooling breezes

provided a great incentive for Brisbanites to flock to the newly established resorts of Sandgate

and Cleveland. Further afield, Bribie Island, with its tranquil beauty, unspoiled beaches, and

wonderful fishing became another favourite spot.

SETTLEMENT

Closer to Brisbane, the Bayside suburbs of Wynnum, Manly, and Lota (south of the Brisbane

River) and Cribb Island, Nudgee Beach, and Redcliffe (to the north of the river) were to

become early dormitory suburbs. People could live there cheaply; town was just a bus or

train trip away; the climate was more temperate than uptown Brisbane; and they could spendtheir leisure times on the Bay at their doorstep.

The Southern Bay islands, too, were settled, and in the Great Depression many sought refuge

there from the economic hardships of city life. Much of the land was cleared for farming, but

island life did have its drawbacks - obtaining basic medical help becomes so much more

difficult on an island. Today, though, the secret is out and property with a water view, be it

Bayside or Riverside is greatly valued.

TRANSPORT

From its first European occupation, the Bay has been host to a constant stream of vessels from

interstate and overseas. The shallow and treacherous waters of the Bay have claimed manyvictims and pilots with local knowledge are required to board visiting vessels outside the Bay

and guide them through the correct channels to the Port of Brisbane.

The waterways of Moreton Bay quickly became the highways for the development of the

region. It would not be until after WWII that road transport would take over from the cargo

boats. Vessels would ply from Brisbane northwards to Bribie Island and Caloundra and south

to Southport and Nerang. Best known of the early cargo carrying families were the Tripconys

and later the Maloney Brothers (Northern Bay) and the Gibsons, and Kleinschmidts

(Southern Bay). But surely it was the dear old Maid of Sker, that grand dame of the

Southern Bay, which best epitomises that era, and which is remembered with the greatest

affection even if is only the sight of her stranded on a sandbank waiting helplessly for the

tide to lift her off. There was a spirit of camaraderie amongst the boatmen that helped define a

special quality of Moreton Bay people. It derived from an intimate knowledge of its ever

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changing waterways, and a realisation of Mans dependence on the whims of Nature, and of

the unwritten requirement to help others out in times of need. The Bay can be a dangerous

place to the unwary.

INDUSTRY

The Bay had always been a bountiful source of food and shelter for the Aborigines. This

supply proved sustainable to their needs because they were relatively few in number, their

hunting methods relatively unsophisticated, and they were not greedy in their harvests in that

they only took enough for their immediate requirements (thank goodness they didnt have

refrigerators!).

When Europeans arrived in Moreton Bay, they were quick to exploit the Bays great

resources both as a source of income and as a source of recreational pleasure. The cedar trees

were felled, the rich land of the southern bay islands farmed, while the waters of the Bay were

harvested for their oysters, fish, crabs, dugong oil, and anything else for which there was a

market.

From 1952 until 1962, a whaling station operated at Tangalooma on Moreton Island.. Far

from being a controversial undertaking then as it would be today, the establishment of the

whaling station was accepted as a step forward to bring Moreton Bay into line with a

generally accepted practice worldwide. It was the advent of vegetable margarine, and plastics

that made whaling unprofitable. This, coupled with the declining whale numbers passing up

for the coast for breeding, forced the closure of Tangalooma after just ten years of operation.

Even so when Les Nash, a lookout on the whale chasers but now an avid whale watcher at

Point Lookout, gave a newspaper interview in the early 1990s 30 years after Tangalooma

closed down, he received two highly critical phone calls from conservationists for his part in

the whale slaughter. This displays the latters ignorance of history and of their failure to

differentiate between what was acceptable then and what is acceptable today. They could just

as easily abused their grandparents for feeding whale meal to their stock or using whale oil forcooking or medicinal purposes, or for grandma wearing a whalebone corset! Each era has

what I like to call a community consciousness. Its something that is difficult to define in

history books but is, nonetheless, real. What is acceptable to one generation may be totally

abhorrent to the next. We have seen it in other areas, too: Australias ties to England have

been replaced by those to the United States; our attitude to indigenous peoples rights in the

community has become more accepting; the community is more understanding of people with

contagious diseases (Hansens Disease patients are now treated in Hospitals instead of being

isolated on Peel Island as they once were); we have realised that our resources are no longer

unlimited; and so on. Changes in our community consciousness arent history per se, butthey are influenced by history, and this is why a knowledge of our history is so important.

PERSONALITIES

Moreton Bay has always had its share of personalities among those who have chosen to

spend their lives in its domain. Its waters demand respect based on seamanship of the highest

order, commonsense, courage in adversity, an intimate knowledge of its channels and

shallows, compassion for others, and a love of freedom that only an outdoor life can offer;

and if the odd eccentricity should surface, then all the better!

BEYOND THE BAY

When Matthew Flinders entered Moreton Bay in 1799, he introduced this isolated sanctuary

to civilisation. Never again would it be a world divorced from the affairs of the world

outside. Weve already seen how persecution and economic hardship in Europe brought

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waves of immigrants to our shores. A more tangible remnant is to be found at Fort Lytton,

built in the late 1800s to defend the Bay against a feared Russian invasion, that never came.

A more dramatic impact on the Bay was the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s,

occasioned by Americas Stock Market crash and its resultant huge unemployment flow on in

the Western World. The islands of Southern Moreton Bay in particular became a refuge for

the jobless of Brisbane. Here people could erect shelters and live off the Bays still abundant

resources, in a way not unlike their Aboriginal counterparts of a century earlier.

World War II brought another threat of invasion to our shores, this time from the Japanese.

Moreton Bay became a focal point for the build-up of American servicemen and equipment to

assist in the eventual Allied victory. The remnants of Forts at Bribie and Moreton Islands are

a few of the tangible reminders of these days.

The latter half of the twentieth century saw a period of stability and growth return to Moreton

Bay but the new millennium has seen our complacency shaken once again by world events.

Immigrants this time from Asia, are once again seeking refuge, legal or otherwise, in our

shores and Pinkemba has even been suggested as a possible site for a holding camp. The

economy too is jittery, but the Bays resources are no longer enough to sustain the jobless.

War, once again, threatens, but the fear of the invading army is now the fear of the unseenterrorist.

THE BAY TODAY

From the time of European settlement, our relationship with Moreton Bay has been one of

exploitation. It has only been in recent years that we have come to the realisation that the

Bays resources are finite and that they are not automatically self regenerating

The Bays main threat is from people. We have built the now large city of Brisbane on a river

that drains into the centre of the Bay, and much of the Bays environmental problems would

be solved if we could move Brisbane away from the Bay. But this is impossible. The best we

can do is monitor what we put into the Bay refuse, sewerage, storm water, industrial toxicwaste, farm fertilizers, sediment from soil erosion etc. All these by-products of our

civilisation have been building up over the two centuries of European occupation to have a

devastating effect on the Bays once pristine waters.

But there is hope. We are now at least aware of the problems and Government agencies and

concerned public groups are now working to ensure that we control our use of the Bay, for it

is only through regulation that we can reverse the effects of our overuse of the Bay and its

resources.

Peter Ludlow

February 2006.Condensed from A Stroll Through Time ( Moreton Bay Letters )