6 minute read
History
LONG HISTORY OF JULY
By Barry Clark Bribie Island Historical Society
Advertisement
1 6
Climate Change is a topical issue, but global warming and cooling has been going on for millions of years, At the end of the last Ice Age, possibly on a July day 18,000 years ago, when the coastline was far away from here, the sea level started rising. Over the next 12,000 years, the sea rose more than 125 metres, and Archaeological evidence reveals that indigenous people adapted to climate change, living on the land that is now the bottom of Moreton Bay, when the coastline was 50 klms. east of what is now Bribie Island. The sea level went down a bit, and the coastline has been this way for about 1000 years, with Bribie being an Island for just a few hundred years. FAR OUT TO SEA.
In July 1769, James Cook observed the Transit of Venus in Tahiti, and went on to discover and claim this new coastline in 1770. He named The Glass Houses and Cape Morton (without the E which was a later error), but he did not see big Moreton Bay or any islands. In July 1770, Cook and his crew were desperately repairing damage to the Endeavour after having run aground on the Great Barrier Reef. They we were very fortunate to fix the hole in the ship, and find a way out of the reef, to successfully return home to England with 44 of the original crew of 100, who survived the three year journey of discovery. Cook spent 20 years of his life, charting oceans and coastal features all around the world. Eleven years on three journeys of explorations aboard Endeavour and Resolution, sailing the Pacific Ocean, searching for a Great South Land and a North West Passage, before his death in an incident with the natives of Hawaii in 1779, at 50 years of age.
James Cook and Resolution
Climate Change is a topical issue, but global warming and cooling has been going on for millions of years, At the end of the last Ice Age, possibly on a July day 18,000 years ago, when the coastline was far away from here, the sea level started rising. Over the next 12,000 years, the sea rose more than 125 metres, and Archaeological evidence reveals that indigenous people adapted to climate change, living on the land that is now the bottom of Moreton Bay, when the coastline was 50 klms. east of what is now Bribie Island. The sea level went down a bit, and the coastline has been this way for about 1000 years, with Bribie being an Island for just a few hundred years. FAR OUT TO SEA. THIRTY JULYS LATER
Thirty years after Cook sailed past here, it is possible that a few old indigenous people of Moreton Bay would have memories of seeing the sails of the Endeavour far out to sea, all those years ago. And then another ship sailed in. Searching for the Cooks Glass House Bay, the 25-year-old Matthew Flinders became the first white man to sail into Moreton Bay and set foot on Bribie Island. on 16 July 1799 Aboard the Norfolk with his much-travelled
In July 1769, James Cook observed the Transit of Venus in Tahiti, and went on to discover and claim this new coastline in 1770. He named The Glass Houses and Cape Morton (without the E which was a later error), but he did not see big Moreton Bay or any islands. In July 1770, Cook and his crew were desperately repairing damage to the Endeavour after having run aground on the Great Barrier Reef. They we were very fortunate to fix the hole in the ship, and find a way out of the reef, to successfully return home to England with 44 of the original crew of 100, who survived the three year journey of discovery. Cook spent 20 years of his life, charting oceans and coastal features all around the world. Eleven years on three journeys of explorations aboard Endeavour and Resolution, sailing the Pacific Ocean, searching for a Great South Land and a North West Passage, before his death in an incident with the natives of Hawaii in 1779, at 50 years of age.
Norfolk & The Ferryman
cat Trim, and aboriginal companion Bongaree, he was looking for big rivers along this coast. Flinders spent 11 of his 16 days in Moreton Bay on Bribie Island, climbed a Glasshouse mountain, named the Pumicestone River, but failed to find what we now know as the Brisbane River. Matthew Flinders had joined the navy as a young man and sailed with William Bligh, who had learned his skills from James Cook, and served on the ship on which Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered after the battle of Waterloo. He sailed from England to Sydney Cove in 1795 where he met George Bass, and explored together on the tiny Tom Thumb. Flinders circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on the Norfolk in 1798, proving for the first time that it was an island. Flinders captained the Investigator to survey the entire coastline of New Holland in 1801, sailing anticlockwise all the way round the vast continent, mapping and naming
thousands of locations. Flinders completed his map and circumnavigation in 1803, proving for the first time that this was a vast island continent, and suggesting the new name of AUSTRALIA. On his voyage back to England he stopped at Mauritius, not knowing that France was at war with England, and was held prisoner of war for 6 years, eventually getting back to England in failing health in 1810. He eventually published the book of his adventures, maps and discoveries, but died in 1814 at the age of 42, the day after his works were published ,without much public recognition. JULY 16 ANNIVERSARY
Bribie residents should be proud that the first white man on Bribie Island, who landed here 16 July 1799, named hundreds of locations around the coastline, and proposed the continent be named Australia, which was finally accepted 3 years after his death. For the 1999 Bicentenary celebration of that first landing, a replica of the sloop Norfolk built in Tasmania was sailed to Bribie Island for the 200-year anniversary. Community
leader Margaret Guthrie organised this event for the opening of her Bribie Island Community Arts Centre and the Matthew Flinders Gallery. OTHER JULY 16 EVENTS
The history of Exploration shows that 16 July is a special date for a variety of memorable happenings. 1623 Pilgrim Settlers arrived at the new
