Bribie Island, QLD, Australia - Local History
A Potted History of Bribie from Aboriginal Occupation to the Present
Feb 13, 2009
It is a truism that every inhabited place has a history, even small communities. Bribie Island , hugging the Queensland coast between Caboolture and Caloundra, almost a Brisbane island dormitory suburb, has a unique history spanning Aboriginal occupation to the present retiree enclave and holiday resort period.
Origin of the Name "Bribie Island"
Bribie, according to its administrator, the Moreton Bay Council, was named for a escaped convict from the Moreton Bay (Brisbane) penal settlement, who lived with the Aboriginal tribe on the island. His name was possibly Breiby, although Bribey may have just been a nickname. Local lore has it that, whenever a convict went missing, he was noted as having ‘Gone to Bribey,’ and the name stuck
Bribie Island Aboriginal Ownership
Bribie is traditional home to the Gubbi Gubbi Aboriginal people, who had a plentiful food source on the island and in the surroundings waters. They seem to have been quite technologically advanced, as they used bark boats and rafts, nets for fishing and trapping birds, and spears for killing kangaroo and wallaby, which were also hunted into mesh nets. The Bribie Island Chamber of Commerce indicates that there are the gazetted remains of an Aboriginal stone fish trap south from the bridge.
According to the Queensland Government Environmental Protection Agency, shell middens (the heaps of empty shells after the shellfish had been used as food) were so extensive that they were carted away and processed for brick mortar for colonial Brisbane buildings. Stone tools can still be found.
Exploration by Matthew Flinders
Explorer Matthew Flinders, the man who circumnavigated the continent and made the first complete map of Australia – indeed, proposed the name Australia – pulled in at Bribie Island to make repairs to his boat “Norfolk”. He did not realise it was an island; he believed he was on the mainland.
Although he mapped the Moreton Bay coastline, Flinders failed to discover the mouth of what is now known as the Brisbane River, as it was well-hidden by islands, mangroves and mud flats.
The Chamber of Commerce records that what is now South Point had been named Point Skirmish by Flinders, because he fired on the traditional owners there on 16th July 1799, after becoming disenchanted with them. This was a prefiguring of what was to come from European settlement.
First European Settlement of Bribie Island
In the 1860s, European settlers moved in – pastoralists and timber-getters – and, as in other parts of Australia, the traditional owners quickly lost out to, and became dependant on, the new dominant group who quickly decimated the once-abundant traditional food source.
Bribie Island has the dubious distinction of housing Queensland’s first Aboriginal Reserve, established in 1877. Before long, the remainder of the tribe was herded off to other missions further north such as Cherbourg.
Bribie Island During World War II
During World War II, Bribie became a first line of defence, with the establishment of Fort Bribie to the north to secure the main shipping channel. Because much of the Moreton Bay area was sand bars and mud flats, authorities knew that the main shipping lane into Brisbane ran close to Bribie Island. Along the sand dunes, walkers can still see the remnants of the old 6-inch gun placements and searchlight buildings.
Bribie Island Today
Bribie has long been seen by Brisbane and Sunshine Coast residents as a good retirement spot or location for holiday cottages. With the building of a bridge to the mainland in 1963, the area became a popular day trip for holiday makers and urban development followed swiftly.
While the island has not yet reached its full tourist potential, is still a very cheap holiday destination given its natural attractions, it now has a thriving shopping centre, supermarkets and extensive tourist accommodation.
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