minjerribah

The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum was a Benevolent Asylum for the aged, infirm, and destitute operated by the Queensland Government in Australia. It was located at Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay and operated from 1865 to 1946.[1] The asylum occupied most of the current Dunwich township. There were many buildings with wards for men, women, and Asiatics. It had a kitchen, bakery, laundry, and other service buildings including a power station from 1926. It had a public hall, recreational facilities, and a visitor center for social activities. A farm with associated outbuildings provided meat and dairy products.[2] A 1913 map shows it occupying the coastal area from Dunwich Cemetery down to the present-day jetty and inland to approximately the present-day Mitchell Crescent and Barton Street. Swamps are shown beyond the boundaries.[7] The 'Aboriginal Gang' that worked the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum were the first Aboriginal people in Australia to receive equal wages. In 1944, after a 25-year campaign, the Aboriginal workers gained equal wages almost 20 years before anywhere else in Australia. The Asylum closed shortly after with the Aboriginal Gang only getting equal wages for one and a half years.[6] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunwich_Benevolent_Asylum

queenslandplaces.com.au/stradbroke-island Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, now North and South Stradbroke Islands, forms the outer south-eastern land enclosure of Moreton Bay. Its northern point is 30 km east of the mouth of the Brisbane River, and the bay's southern waters are about two km wide at the southern tip of the south island, opposite Labrador on the Gold Coast. The break in the island, known as Jumpinpin, was formed in 1894-96 during heavy storm activity. (Jumpinpin was an Aboriginal word meaning Pandanus.) Some credit the beginning of the break in the island to the detonation of the explosives aboard the barque Cambus Wallace that ran aground in 1894. The complete island was 60 km from north to south. North Stradbroke Island falls within the boundaries of the Redland Shire Council; South Stradbroke the Gold Coast City Council.

Fish for dinner but I wonder what the rifles were used for on Stradbroke Island?

The western side of North Stradbroke Island faces into the southern half of Moreton Bay. The sandy shore receives no ocean swell, except at the very north-western entrance. Only at the protruding Dunwich and along the north-western Amity shore are the bay waves sufficiently high to maintain low-energy sandy beaches fronted by tidal flats and/or tidal channels. As the bay narrows south of Dunwich, the low energy conditions permit mangroves to dominate the shore, while between Dunwich and Amity extensive sand flats and tidal shoals extending 12 km into the bay also maintain calm conditions and a mangrove-fringed shore. In all, there are five-bay beaches between Dunwich and Amity Point. One Mile Beach (1578) forms the northern shore of Dunwich. It is a 500 m long, low-energy strip of high tide sand, including a few scattered mangroves, fronted by 1 km wide sand flats. The beach is backed by a foreshore reserve, then houses. Amity is located on the north-western tip of the island and borders the transition from the bay to the ocean shore. The main settlement extends along 1 km of the west-facing bay shore. Unfortunately, the settlement was located too close to the shore and the natural retreat of the beach has caused a 500 m long section to be replaced by a rock seawall. This seawall divides the previously sandy shore into two beaches. Source: beachsafe.org.au/beach/qld/redland/dunwich/one-mile