REGULAR FEATURES
PIONEERS OF BANKSIA BEACH
From Isolation To New Modern Suburb.. 42
www.thebribieislander.com.au
The Bribie Islander
Barry Clark Bribie Island Historical Society
THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT PEOPLE AND EVENTS THAT TOOK BANKSIA BEACH FROM ISOLATION TO A BIG NEW SUBURB. THE NAME BANKSIA RELATES TO JOSEPH BANKS, A YOUNG BOTANIST WHO SAILED WITH CAPTAIN COOK ON HIS JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN 1770. Although well off the coast sailing past here, street names include Solander, Banks assistant, Elizabeth Batts, Cooks wife who lived to the age of 94, and Endeavour, their ship. The first explorer Matthew Flinders repaired his sloop Norfolk at White Patch in 1799 and camped with the aboriginal inhabitants. Eighty years later few remained, and they were placed in a government reserve at White Patch, where they had a ceremonial Bora Ring, later destroyed by developers. About 1898 the government gazetted land there for a new settlement to be called the Town Of Bribie. However, it did not eventuate as a private tug company built a jetty at Bongaree in 1912, running steamships from Brisbane, leaving Banksia Beach very isolated. The only person to come to Banksia Beach in the 1890s was Gustav Gux, a Prussian migrant who lived on the Caboolture River, who came to catch many big mud crabs, in what we now call Dux Creek. In 1913 the whole Banksia Beach area was acquired by Harry Wright, Secretary of the Licensed Victuallers Association in Brisbane. He must have seen the potential business opportunity and growth for Bribie and built a house named “Mountain View”, south of Wrights creek which was later named
