In between the mainland and North Stradbroke Island, Moreton’s most famous, are smaller islands laid out across the bay. These islands are close enough to Brisbane that many of the residents commute to the city on a daily basis.
Named for its red cliffs Coochie Mudlo Island is the perfect place for family swimming and boating. In July you can enjoy a re-enactment festival of how Matthew Flinders landed there 200 years ago. You can also dine at Matthew Flinders Caf, year round, and admire the bay views. Ferry and barge services leave from Victoria Point.
In the Southern Bay Islands, Macleay Island has a population of about 2500. Russell Island is the largest of the Southern Moreton Bay islands with a population of over 3000 people and is becoming increasingly popular as a weekend retreat or retirement destination. It has shops, a supermarket, and cafe and there are holiday homes to rent and a hotel. You can walk the whole way around Lamb Island as it is only 2km by 1km but has very large views. Kangarra Island is the smallest of the inhabited islands and is a quiet spot with no shops so go prepared with your own picnic. There are dozens of smaller islands too which you will see if you go boating in the area but be prepared with good maps and safety equipment.
The most interesting island, historically, is St Helena Island. Once the hunting ground of local tribes, the island took its name from a parallel drawn with the exile of Napoleon Bonaparte to St Helena in the South Atlantic “in 1828 an Aborigine named as Napoleon was dumped here after he became too troublesome for the jail at Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island.
Forty years later, overcrowding in mainland prisons prompted the government to turn St Helena Island into a penal settlement and after clearing rain forest for timber and to prevent escapes, gardens were planted and houses built from coal blocks and clay. In some respects it was the model system; prisoners were taught a trade and were even paid for their labor and there were only three escapes in 65 years – This may have been because of an ever present large quantity of sharks whose presence were actively encouraged by the wardens !! The last inmate left in 1933.It is possible to tour the island for the day or for a night-tour and these days you will find the stone houses, the Deputy Superintendents house, now a museum and lots of photographs from the prison era.
