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.
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...