Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay has referred to several distinct but interrelated geographic entities.
- James Cook named the bight between Stradbroke Island's northern end and Moreton Island's seaward side after Lord Morton, president of the Royal Society, when he passed the area in 1770. John Hawkesworth changed the spelling to Moreton in the first published account of Cook's voyage.
- Matthew Flinders sailed around Cape Moreton (Moreton Island's northern extremity) into the waters between the island and the mainland in 1799. He investigated Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe and Coochiemudlo Island before moving on to Wide Bay.
- Moreton Bay was one of three locations John Oxley was directed to investigate as possible sites for a new penal settlement in 12823. It became the site for the new convict station after castaways Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan directed Oxley to the Brisbane River.
- An initial Moreton Bay convict settlement on the Redcliffe Peninsula was subsequently relocated to the site of Brisbane's CBD. The region was then referred to as the Moreton Bay district.
- References to the Bay as separate from the settlement upriver stem from rivalry between Brisbane and Cleveland for official status as the district's port. Squatting interests further inland favoured Ipswich as the capital and Cleveland as the port.
Sources:
Links:
Brisbane
Brisbane River
Cape Moreton
Cleveland
Coochiemudlo Island
Ipswich
James Cook
John Finnegan
John Hawkesworth
John Oxley
Lord Morton
Matthew Flinders
Moreton Bay convict settlement
Moreton Bay district.
Moreton Island
Pumicestone Passage
Redcliffe
Redcliffe Peninsula
Royal Society
Stradbroke Island
Thomas Pamphlett
Wide Bay
