North Stradbroke Island by bike

We booked a four day stay at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island and decided to get there by public transport. That meant a train to Cleveland station, cycle to the ferry terminal, ferry to Dunwich and then cycle to Point Lookout, 19km away on the surf side of the island. I had done this trip before, but it was 20 years ago so I was overdue some “Straddie” love.

Pulling out into the broad expanse of Moreton Bay we passed Peel Island to the north. Peel’s Jandai name is Teerk Roo Ra meaning “place of many shells”. Aboriginal groups used Peel Island as a feasting and ceremonial site. Midden sites and a bora ring remain. Europeans first used it in 1874 as an immigration quarantine station for ships to keep contagious diseases out. Authorities gazetted the island’s north-west corner in 1906 and built a lazaret a year later to forcibly hold people from across Queensland with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). It held 500 people in poor conditions over the years. Though drugs cured leprosy in the 1940s, the lazaret stayed open until 1959.

After a 25 minute water taxi journey we approach Dunwich. Like Peel Island, Dunwich was established as a quarantine station after the closure of Brisbane’s penal colony in 1849. We landed at One Mile Jetty where fishers were enjoying low tide access to the bay. The good news for cyclists is the jetty is 2km closer to Point Lookout than the car ferry terminal, further south.

Nearby is Dunwich cemetery. Overlooking the bay, it is possibly the second oldest cemetery in Queensland. These unusual stones mark the graves of inmates of the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum. The grave markers varied in design depending on the period when the inmates were buried. The Asylum was established as the quarantine station closed in 1865. Peel opened two years later.

A couple of kilometres into the ride we visited Myora Springs Conservation Area at Capembah Creek. A freshwater spring feeds the creek and a boardwalk sign says it pours 2.4 million litres of crystal clear water into Moreton Bay every day. This was a Quandamooka camping spot for millennia and remains a special place. The area’s wildlife includes freshwater prawns in the creek and koalas in the eucalypts and swamp mahoganies above.

The East Coast road is hilly and we were glad to settle in to our accommodation for the evening enjoying the sunset over Cylinder Beach. The beach gets its name from the gas cylinders used to power Point Lookout lighthouse which were brought ashore on the beach.

The following morning we walk down to Point Lookout. The point was named by Lt James Cook as the Endeavour passed on May 17, 1770. Cook wrote in his journal that at sunset “the Northermost land in sight bore North by West, the breakers North-West by West, distant 4 Miles, and the Northermost land set at Noon, which form’d a Point, I named Point Lookout, bore West, distant 5 or 6 Miles (Latitude 27 degrees 6 minutes)”. Cook’s latitude is wrong as it should be 27 degrees 26 minutes. He continued: “On the North side of this point the shore forms a wide open bay, which I have named Morton’s Bay”. Cook named it for James, Earl of Morton, President of the Royal Society in 1764, and one of the Commissioners of Longitude. Over the years the name of the bay was corrupted to Moreton. This view looks south to the beach down the east of the island.

The surf was strong and surfers enjoyed the big waves. The swells are often large at Main Beach, which is popular for its left hand point breaks. We kept an eye out for whales heading north. In summer humpback whales feed in the polar waters of Antarctica, and in winter migrate to tropical or subtropical waters of Fiji and Australia to breed and give birth. Thousands of humpbacks swim past Australia’s east coast between late May and early November each year.

Nearby is the North Gorge Walk. Normally you can take the beautiful 1.2km loop track around the headland but storm damage in the middle means it is only open for short segments at either end. The heavy waves crashing into gorge were a spectacular sight.

At the northern entrance to the gorge is this place marker. Designed by sculptor Delvene Cockatoo-Collins in 2019 the installation is called “eugaries”. An interpretative sign says the eugarie shells stand in a way often found in the shallow ocean, within the sand and on middens. Shell remnants have been found at Mulumba (the Quandamooka name for Point Lookout) showing evidence of a traditional gathering place and food camp. Mulumba means place of stone/rock in Jandai language. The eugaries symbolise people coming together while the patterns on the outer layer reflect their weathered nature.

I’ve written about Quandamooka native title but there is dissension over a proposed development next to the Gorge Walk called Yalingbila Bibula (Whale on the Hill). The development is an initiative of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation. An interpretive facility will house a 15-metre skeleton of humpback whale washed ashore in 2011 – one of the few complete humpback whale skeletons on public display in the world. The facility will also share Quandamooka stories, values and history. But many locals aren’t happy with the proposal and have set up a “Quandamooka Truth Embassy” on the northern side of the walk. They say the whale is not a totem of the Quandamooka and the remains should be returned to the sea not “hung in a whale coffin on the hill”.

They also say construction will impact kangaroos, koalas, possums and echidnas and it is a culturally significant area with a cave just below the site. It is a difficult problem to resolve as the island economy transitions from sand-mining which ended in 2019. The Minjerribah Futures Program wants to transition the island from an economic reliance on resources to cultural and eco-tourism but the local chamber of commerce says there is no funding for basic amenities like bike paths, disability access to the beach and showers.

We could have done with a bike lane on the narrow and dangerous East Coast road where not all vehicles adhere to the one and a half metre distance rule. We had a more relaxing ride on Saturday on this vehicle-free dirt track to Amity Point. We had a delightful 7km trip through the foliage with only the occasional mountain biker, birds and a hungry tree-climbing goanna for company.

Amity Point is the sleepiest of Stradbroke’s three settlements. Originally known as Pulan by the Nunukul people, Amity was home to an Aboriginal population of over 100. In 1824 John Oxley named the headland after the brig Amity he sailed in when establishing Moreton Bay penal colony. In 1825 the government established a pilot station to guide ships to the penal settlement. Hayles Cruises started a passenger ferry in 1935 and this was the main entry point to the island for many years.

Despite being a sand island, the forests surrounding Amity are subtropical rainforests with significant diversity in flora and fauna. Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are common in the wild on Straddie, often in townships like this one in Amity. The Koala Action Group Queensland has documented dramatic decline of koalas on mainland South East Queensland with suggestions North Stradbroke Island should become an “island ark” for koalas. Sadly their study found that due to characteristics including low genetic diversity, Straddie koalas are unique, and the location and population should not be considered an island ark for the rest of SEQ, but conserved and managed as a separate entity.

After a coffee we found another route back to Point Lookout, a low tide cycle along beautiful Flinders Beach. Our company was white-bellied sea eagles and boaties in the channel to the north. There was a tricky section at the end of the beach where we had to dismount and carry our bikes in knee-height water across fallen trees but we were able to continue our ride home via, appropriately enough, Home Beach.

Still feeling energetic the following day, I risked the traffic and cycled the East Coast Road to Dunwich. My destination was the North Stradbroke Island museum on Minjerribah. There were displays on the Peel Island lazaret and the Dunwich Quarantine Station and Asylum. The Asylum was set up for destitute Queenslanders in 1865. It remained there until 1946 when it was moved to the vacated RAAF base at Sandgate, later renamed Eventide.

Back at Point Lookout I went for a run to the lighthouse, which is not on the sea, but on the top of a hill. The lighthouse was established in 1932 using automatic acetylene apparatus. It was painted red and white and when American supply ship Rufus King ran aground in 1942 on the South Passage Bar, its captain claimed he had mistaken the lighthouse for the one at Cape Moreton which was also painted red and white. To avoid confusion Cape Moreton was repainted in alternate red and white bands. In 1988 Point Lookout light was converted to a battery operated light float charged from electricity mains and the tower that housed the light prism was removed.

That evening we took the short walk to the North Stradbroke Beach Hotel for dinner with its lovely views of the sunset over Cylinder Beach. The hotel was opened in 1962 and was affectionately known by locals and visitors as the Straddie Pub. A total rebuild in 2006 has given it a more upmarket flavour. It’s a great place to unwind and for whale watching while having a beer or a bite to eat.

That left an early start the following morning for the 19km trip back to the ferry. There was plenty of time to enjoy the final views of Straddie and Moreton Bay as we motored back to Cleveland.

Quandamooka versus Queensland: A tale of law, PR and Stradbroke Island

I was coming from Roma St Station towards Kurilpa Bridge to the Queensland State Library yesterday thinking about my Aboriginal studies final assignment due on Monday. I was trying to figure out how crucial dignity was to three Indigenous ambassadors from different times, Bennelong, Bussamarai and Noel Pearson. Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared two men with an Aboriginal flag. The timing seemed extraordinary and they were heading the same way as me. I followed them to the Commonwealth law courts in front of Kurilpa bridge. Indigenous people were putting up signs and waiting outside the court, while others got ready to do a traditional dance. There were television and other media present. There was the promise of a peaceful protest and street theatre. The State Library could wait, this was a media event and I was media.

This was also Indigenous people acting out their own dignity. Young men put up banners while others handed out kits to waiting media. I asked for a kit and read their story. The High Court case was about sand mining rights on “Straddie”. Straddie is North Stradbroke Island, or Minjerribah, to Indigenous people. They were here to appeal to Canberra to stop Brisbane from making laws about their island without their permission. Labor’s law enacted in 2011 permits mining to 2019 – with Indigenous consent – but the LNP introduced a new law in 2013 to push the end of mining to 2035 and also increase its size. Federal law says they should have consulted with the traditional owners, something the Queensland government didn’t do. The constitution says that when State and Federal law clash, the latter prevails. But the unconsulted Straddie Aboriginal people had to take it to the highest court in the land. It was blatant lack of regard, something that has happened time again across the country since 1788.

Straddie is close to Brisbane but bridgeless, much to the delight of most residents black and white. Visitors are not new. Straddie has been home to humans for over 20,000 years. We don’t know their original name but their descendants became the Quandamooka people. Straddie was annexed by Cook in 1770 and again by Phillip in 1788 as part of New South Wales but the islanders remained ignorant of British rule for another 36 years. When another penal colony was needed for those that needed further punishing, Moreton Bay fit the bill. The British felt no permission was necessary to establish this colony, enforced at the butt of a carbine.

They first landed on Straddie, the same year – 1824 – as they landed in Brisbane. At a place the islanders called Pulan, they built a pilot station overlooking the strategic exit to the ocean. Whites renamed it Amity Point. Moreton Bay was opened to free labour and from 1859, Straddie would be ruled by Brisbane, not London or Sydney. A church mission named Myora failed to win converts. The earliest Brisbane rulers were pastoralists who had financial reason to support “the opening up” of territory for agriculture. Later regimes were heavily paternal, locking up Aborigines in concentration camps across the state where they could be kept under control. Many Stradbroke Islanders were sent to Cherbourg, Woorabinda or Palm Island.

The first sandmining on Straddie took place in the 1950s. There was no consultation with Quandamooka and no profits to them either. Nothing much changed until two groundbreaking events in 1993. The first was Mabo v Queensland (no 2) where Mer man Eddie Mabo and his friends proved to the High Court they had customary title to the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait. Later that year Paul Keating pushed through a Native Title Act, a brave move that cost him much political capital (giving things to blacks remains electorally unpopular in Australia). Keating’s Act provided for a national system to recognise and protect native title, which would co-exist with the “land management system”. For Straddie that meant co-existing with sand mining.

Mabo had got them a seat at the negotiating table, and also overrode Queensland law. The Quandamooka people lodged their land claims in two phases between 1995 and 1999. The National Native Title tribunal registered both claims in 2000 but the claims were slowed by boundary disputes, needing a 2006 workshop of elders, lawyers and anthropologists to resolve. The main mining lessees expired in October 2007 and two days later lessee Stradbroke Rutile Ltd (owned by Consolidated Rutile) applied for a 21 year continuation of lease. In 2009 both companies were gobbled up by Belgian company Sibelco, a “raw material producer” for the world manufacturing market.

In January 2010, the Federal Court asked the National Native Title Tribunal to facilitate negotiations with the State Government, local government and other interested parties to finalise an Indigenous Land Use Agreement. Sibelco nominated subsidiary Unimin to negotiate a separate ILUA with the Quandamooka. In mid 2010 Unamin’s “offer” to the Quandamooka involved the long-term operation of the mines until 2035 and another in 2050 and they also wanted their support in their lease negotiations with the state government. The Quandamooka came back with a counter offer. They split the ILUA in two, firstly a complex one that would deal with future mining and might take many years to agree on, called “a Future Acts ILUA”, and secondly a simple one to have agreement on the ground once the Federal Court judges the native title claim. They also advised Unamin/Sibelco to sort out the leases with the government and come back to them for consent.

In April 2011 the Bligh Labor government passed the North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability Act (NSIPSA Act) which gave effect to key elements of the ILUA between Queensland and the Quandamooka. It approved mining on Straddie until the end of 2019 at which time full native title rights would return to the Quandamooka. The ILUA was signed almost three years ago to the day, 15 June 2011. In a historic year, the Federal Court also handed down its Native Title judgment in July 2011. For the first time, a court had recognised Quandamooka law and customs had survived colonisation. Judge Dowsett said the Quandamooka were a “pre-sovereign society” who had maintained connections with Straddie and the adjoining sea (though not with adjoining islands or the mainland). He also noted Sibelco, Telstra and other big stakeholders were adopting the state’s submissions. The National Native Tribunal ratified the claim on 11/11/11 making it the law of the land.

But Judge Dowsett was too sanguine about Sibelco’s intentions. With a state election coming up in 2012 and a likely change of government they ran a political scare campaign to get their original position back on the table. They focused the campaign in Ashgrove where Campbell Newman was running to become premier from outside parliament. Newman duly proposed to extend sand mining to 2035 if the LNP took power. Newman told the ABC Labor had acted in “a unilateral and capricious way” by bringing forward the end of mining in its 2011 law which was “all about green preferences”. Neither interviewer nor Newman made any mention of the traditional owners and Newman had no contact with the Quandamooka before his announcement. Sibelco’s PR company Rowland would later win a PR state award for excellence demonstrating “achieving environmental and economic progress in an island community”.

Rowland’s other reward was a fat contract after Newman’s landslide election win. Without changing any laws, the new Mining Minister ruled mining would stay to 2035. Still the government had not contacted the Quandamooka. In October 2013 the government brought in the North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability and Another Act Amendment Bill 2013. The new NSIPSAAA Bill offered Sibelco security to 2035 with fewer environmental provisions. When the bill went to the agriculture, resources and environment committee, the Quandamooka could finally respond as the native title holders. The committee report admitted the government had not consulted the Quandamooka on NSIPSAAA, which breached the Queensland Legislative Standards Act 1992. Despite this, the Bill became law in Queensland’s unicameral chamber on 20 November. Without consent, it had changed a range of matters previously agreed with the Quandamooka.

In March this year, the fightback began. Elders gave their assent for the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation to launch a High Court Challenge to Queensland’s 2013 Straddie law. They say the law overturning the 2011 law contravenes Keating’s Native Title Act 1993. The section of constitutional law is S109 which says if a state law is inconsistent with a Commonwealth law the latter shall prevail and the former “shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid”. The legal battle will be on the extent of the consistency between the two acts. Whatever happens, the dignified Aboriginal elders outside the High Court yesterday won the moral battle. Their dancers performed a smoking ceremony where they blessed their own people and all other by-standers, including the media filming the ceremony. “It is your job,” a Quandamooka dancer told the media, “to tell the world”. These people are proving dignity very much matters.