1925 Bribie Island The Rising Resort

The following advertorial appeared in the 1925 brochure entitled Mountain and Seaside Resorts from Noosa to Tweed which was compiled and issued by the state Tourist Bureau. 

Bribie Island The Rising Resort

December 1925

Bribie Island, or Bribie, as it is more conveniently called, is reached by continuing the steamer trip in the s.s. Koopa or Doomba past Redcliffe to its furthest limits. It is 38 miles from Brisbane, and is reached after a three hours run from the city, the steamers berthing at a short, well-constructed jetty. Bribie Island and Moreton Island, which lies opposite at a considerable distance, form the most northern outposts of Moreton Bay. Bribie Island is about 20 miles long, from 2 to 3 miles broad, and is well timbered.  

Near the jetty there is a commodious refreshment-room, where fish and oyster dinners are obtainable, and also stores at which campers can purchase requisites. A large pavilion, bathing-sheds, and other conveniences for the use of visitors have been erected. Accommodation is provided for by a number of boarding-houses, and, as a further inducement, the steamship company has erected twelve huts of a standard design and size (14 feet by 12 feet) along the inner beach. 

On application to the caretaker, Bribie, these may be let at the following rates:- Ordinary weekly tariff, 6s.; Christmas, New Year, and Easter, 10s. per week; week-ends, 3s. 6d. 

For the excellence of its fish and oysters, Bribie is known far and wide, and during the summer months the company run their steamer to Bribie every alternative Saturday to afford city folk and anglers an opportunity of a week-end at this resort. 

The Amateur Fishermen's Association has erected a fine cottage for the convenience of members. It is situated about half a mile from the jetty. 

Bribie has made rapid and substantial progress during the past two years. An excellent road has been constructed from the jetty across the island to the Ocean Beach, where a handsome and commodious kiosk has been erected by the Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company for the convenience of visitors. 
The main ocean beach is ideal for surfing, and excellent fishing may be enjoyed nearly all the year round. This beautiful hard sandy beach stretches for miles along the eastern side of the island. Motor 'buses meet all steamers and convey passengers to the ocean beach.

 There is a Government experimental station a short distance from the jetty. Visitors will receive much assistance and useful information from Mr. Bob Davies, at his store near the jetty.

Travelling from Bongaree to Caloundra through Pumice Stone Channel

December 1925

Caloundra can be reached by a through smooth trip from Brisbane. The glimpses of scenery obtained during the passage through the winding channel are such that must be seen to be appreciated. Leaving Bribie, Toorbul Point, on the mainland, is passed; thence the old fish-canning works. Presently an old iron hulk is viewed; then are seen what appear like fenced selections on the sea, which are really licensed oyster banks protected by this means against the enemies of the shellfish.

Looking further northward one perceives the green-carpeted sward of the banks on which hundreds of aquatic birds, from the large pelican to small snipe, are peacefully feeding, whilst further away great flocks of black swans are gracefully swimming.

Ever and always about us are the towering peaks of the Glass House Mountains, their grey trachyte sides viewed first from the south-east, thence due east, and again from the north-east. By proceeding from the metropolis to Caloundra Via Bribie, and returning via Landsborough by rail to Brisbane, or Vice versa, a splendid round trip is afforded tourists.

REFERENCE:
Mountain and seaside resorts from Noosa to Tweed. (1925) Compiled and issued by The Queensland Government Intelligence and Tourist Bureau, 10 December 1925. Bribie Island the rising resort [text and photos] pages 94-94. Travelling from Bongaree to Caloundra through Pumicestone Channel [text and photos] pages 67-70. Viewed on the Internet Archive https://archive.org/  

Bongaree Jetty Heritage

Bongaree Jetty and Bongaree Esplanade

Heritage site signs

Bongaree Jetty and park area, Aug 2017.
Photo: Donna Holmes

A walk along the Bongaree Jetty and Esplanade precinct is very pleasant and allows an opportunity to read the information contained on several Heritage site signs.

In this picturesque area there are three Heritage site signs which were unveiled in 2004.

For those folk who are not able to walk through this lovely area, below is a copy of the signs and information about their unveiling.

The Bribie Jetty, Jetty Precinct and Twelve Apostles Lookout Heritage site signs were unveiled on Sunday 5 December 2004 at the Official Opening of the newly refurbished Bongaree Jetty and Bongaree Esplanade Improvement Project.

Source: BIHS database GEN_011

Source: BIHS database GEN_011

Program for the Official opening of the newly refurbished Bongaree Jetty and Bongaree Esplanade Improvement Project.

                       The Heritage Site signs give a brief history of:

Bribie Jetty           Twelve Apostles Lookout        Jetty Precinct

     Bribie Jetty [Heritage Site sign]

Source: BIHS RP2_001_jetty2004

1911 The Birth of Modern Tourism in Queensland

Caption: The Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company established the first Island tourist resort in Queensland on the 153 sq km Bribie Island. Prior to this, the Tug "Greyhound" and then "Beaver" had opened up a service to Bribie in 1901.
SS Koopa photo by permission of the Hall Family.







1912 The First Jetty at Bongaree

Caption: The Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company built the first jetty at Bongaree and commissioned the SS Koopa to transport tourists from Brisbane and Redcliffe. Since then the jetty has been expanded, reduced and rebuilt many times.
Photo by permission of the Campbell Family.

1920s The Golden Years

Caption: Prior to the great depression, up to seven ships were tied up at the jetty. Thousands of tourists disembarked on first one walkway then two and then three, with an extended head connecting the multiple walkways. It is interesting to note that in 1917 a competitive destination "Umbigumbi" opened, this is now known as Surfers Paradise.
Photo by permission of the Campbell Family.

1911-1961 ss Koopa Luxury Steamship

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: This 62-metre vessel could carry up to 1200 passengers and at one time even had an orchestra for entertainment. The travel time from Brisbane to Bribie was a leisurely three hours. To cope with shallow waters in Pumicestone Passage it had a flat bottom hull to achieve a draft of two metres. As per the 'Packet License' regulations at the time, at three nautical miles from the home berth, the stewards opened the lavish bar on the lower forward deck. On the intermediate deck, patrons could enter the casino, where they mostly played poker. Excellent food was also served. For example: Oysters with buttered bread were 1/- (one Shilling) per plate. At night the ss Koopa was an impressive sight as she was well lit with a total of 159 lamps. During WWII the Royal Australian Navy commissioned the ss Koopa in 1942. After her war service she was returned to public service. The locally formed Moreton Bay Development Company bought the Koopa and began operation in early 1952. Their objective was to keep the Koopa operating until the bridge was built bu ceased operating in 1953. The Koopa continued on various runs until finally scrapped around 1961. The bridge opened in 1963 ending this era of steamship transport.
Photo by permission of John Oxley Library.

1923-1939 ss Doomba 

Caption: This 70-metre vessel could carry up to 1524 passengers. Formerly H.M.S. Wexford, the vessel was built in 1919 and arrived in Brisbane in November 1923. She was refitted as a passenger ship with a promenade deck added to seat up to 280 passengers. The Wexford was then renamed the ss Doomba. Her fastest run to Bribie was two hours (excluding berthing in Redcliffe) and she touched a top speed of 19 knots. The Royal Australian navy re-commissioned the H.M.A.S. Doomba in 1939 and she served once again as a minesweeper, mainly in Bass Strait. After the war she was sold and used as a bulk carrier and finally as a barge. She was eventually scuttled in 1976.  Photo by permission of the Hall Family.

1920 Campbell's Kiosk

Caption: 
The Campbell's Oyster Kiosk was very much a family affair. They were a great fishing family with the father Joe Campbell registered as an oysterman having taken charge of local oyster farming operations around 1905.  The Campbell's also hired out boats at 5/- (Shillings) a week and went on to open a cash store on the Esplanade in 1953.
Photo by permission of the Hall Family.




1921 Camping Grounds on the Foreshore at Bongaree

Caption: Looking towards what is now Brennans Park the scene would have looked very different in the 1920s. In the top left hand corner of the photograph is the Brisbane Tug and Steamship caretaker's residence. Underneath this building was the location of the first post office on Bribie Island.
Photo by permission of the John Oxley Library.

1923 Bongaree Streetscape

Caption: View of the township of Bongaree in 1923. The large building on the left hand side of the photograph was the Hall and Bestmann general store. In the centre of the photograph are stacks of tent poles for hire.  The elevated building on the right hand side of the photograph was the caretaker's residence.
Photo by permission of the John Oxley Library.




1924 Road from Bongaree

The road from Bongaree to Woorim was completed and four Model T Ford passenger buses take holiday makers to the Brisbane Tug & Steamship Company Hotel at Ocean Beach.

1951 Bribie Island Bus

Caption: The photo shows a more modern Bribie Island bus meeting the passengers from steamships. The buses operated between the Jetty and Ocean Beach Woorim.
Photo by permission of the John Oxley Library.










1963 The Bribie Island Bridge
 The 831 metre Bribie Island bridge officially opens at a cost of £358,156 and the era of water transport is effectively over. To recover construction costs a 5/- Shilling toll was placed on the bridge until 1973.

Special Thanks to local historians Warwick Outram and Ron Powell for their invaluable assistance with historical research.

1999 Celebration of the Bicentennary of Matthew Flinders' Landing on Bribie Island 16 July 1799

Acknowledgement: This plaque also acknowledges a commemorative ceremony held on 16 July 1999 to celebrate the Bicentenary of Matthew Flinders' Landing on Bribie Island 16 July 1799.

The 1999 ceremony focused on the planting of a Flindersia australis species (crows ash) tree by His Excellency Major General Peter Arnison AO Governor of Queensland, Honourable Peter Beattie MLA Premier of Queensland and Cr Tom McLoughlin Mayor of Caboolture Shire.

 Twelve Apostles Lookout [Heritage Site sign]

Source: BIHS RP2_001_jetty2004

1925 Dance Hall, School and Bowls Club

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: Near to this site was the Bribie Island Dance Hall. This was also where the first School on Bribie Island was conducted. Later the stumps were removed and the hall was re-located to become the first clubhouse for the Bribie Island Bowls Club.
Photo by permission of the Hall Family.

1920s Twelve Apostles

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: Around 1918 just after the war the Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company constructed twelve huts on their foreshore leasehold just behind the Bribie Jetty.

In the foreground of the photograph is a temporary jetty for unloading road metal (gravel) during construction of the first road to Woorim.

The aim was to provide cheap holiday accommodation for visitors who did not wish to camp. 

In later years these twelve apostles, as they became popularly known, were to provide more permanent accommodation to the Island's pensioners.
Photo by permission of the Hall Family.

1901-1912 Tugs on the Leaning Fig

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption:
From 1901-1912 the tugs 'Beaver' and 'Greyhound', which had been refitted to carry passengers, transported early visitors to the Island.

Prior to the Jetty (shown in the photo just completed in 1912) passengers were transferred to the shore in a square end Punt with seats all around. The Punt was hauled ashore and secured to a tree. That tree is believed to be the leaning Fig adjacent to this site.

Photo by permission of John Oxley Library.

Welcome to the Jetty Precinct [Heritage Site sign]

Source: BIHS RP2_001_jetty2004

1932 Hall and Bestmann General Store

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: In 1913 Alfred Hall and Artie Bestmann started what was to become the first general store at Bongaree. Alfred Hall owned a grocery store in Brisbane and started by bringing up some groceries and selling them through the kitchen window. In 1921 they built the purpose built store shown in the photograph next door to their residence.
Photo by permission of the Hall Family.







1924/25 Toll Road and Early Transport

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: To recover the construction costs, the road from Bongaree to Woorim had a Toll of 1/- (One Shilling). During its construction road material was brought from Brisbane and crushed at Bongaree. A horse attached to a skip by rope pulled it up a ramp. A truck drove under a level section of the elevated ramp and workers tipped the skips to drop the road base into the truck. The 1925 photo here shows a self-made roundabout for tour buses. 

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

 Model T Ford passenger buses take holidaymakers to the Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company Hotel at Ocean Beach Woorim. Bus fares ranged from 9d (nine pennies) for children to 1/6 (One Shilling and sixpence) for adults.
1920 Holiday Time at Bribie in the Early Days

Caption: This is the scene you would have seen in the 1920s. Tents and the ss Koopa tied up at the Jetty. 

Photo by permission of John Oxley Library.

1920s Shops and Guest House - Northern Side of the Jetty

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: The facilities available in the 1920s included a Cafe, Museum and Boarding House. The Cafe's veranda reached out onto the water's edge.
Photo by permission of Mr. Sam Hawkins.

The Jetty Precinct looking towards First Avenue

Source: BIHS RP2_009_Heritage

Caption: 
This photograph shows a view of the Jetty, Camping Area and First Avenue going straight ahead to Woorim. To the left of the Jetty is the temporary gantry for unloading the road metal.
Photo by permission of the Campbell Family.

Acknowledgements:
The above photos have been collected by the Bribie Island Historical Society for the BIHS Historical Database, particularly from the collections of Peta Newcomb, Robert Price and Donna Holmes.

Q150 2009 First shop

Q150 Heritage Plaque - 7 of 16 - First Shop

The Bribie Island Heritage Plaques Waterfront Walk Bongaree consists of 16 bronze plaques located on the "Heritage Walk" along the walking path beside the Bongaree beach from the southern point of South Esplanade and finishes just north of Kangaroo Avenue.

These 16 bronze plaques set on a white concrete square record various aspects of the history of Bribie Island: Record Rainfall, South Esplanade, Campbell's Store, Camping Grounds, Bribie Island heritage quote from A. Meston, Ian Fairweather, First Shop, Bribie Island Heritage quote from Stan Tutt, First Avenue, Fishing Records, Welsby Parade, Bribie Island Wartime, First Car, Shirley Creek, Castaway Convicts and Fish Cannery.

The following excerpt is from the 2009 booklet produced prior to the plaques placement.  The Heritage Plaques Waterfront Walk Bongaree project was a Q150 Community Funded Program, initiated by the Rotary Club of Bribie Island and supported by Moreton Bay Regional Council in conjunction with Bribie Island U3A and Bribie Island Historical Society.

A copy of the map for the Bongaree Waterfront Walk can be found at 

http://bribieislandhistory.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/bribie-heritage-plaques-walk.html

FIRST SHOP A.H. “Artie” Bestmann kept bees and dairy cattle here from 1903.  Alfred Hall, a Brisbane grocer, built a house next door in 1913 and together they provided basic goods to visitors from a spare room.  In 1921 they built the “Hall and Bestmann Store” on this corner.

History of Bribie’s First Shop

¨ Arthur H. “Artie” Bestmann moved to Bongaree from his parents farm at Best Park, near Godwin Beach, in the early 1900’s.  He kept bees and grazed dairy cattle, establishing the first dairy on Bribie Island.  Artie supplied milk and honey to local residents and visitors.

¨ In 1913, a storekeeper from Toowong in Brisbane, Alfred T. “Alf” Hall built a holiday cottage next door to Artie Bestmann on what was to become Toorbul Street.  Locals and campers on holiday were soon asking Alf Hall to bring provisions from Brisbane to replenish their supplies.

Alfred Hall's holiday home and shop on verandah

¨ Alf and Artie began selling their foodstuffs from the window of the spare room at the front of Hall’s house to customers on the verandah.  Over time business expanded and the partners built the substantial Hall & Bestmann Store on the corner block. 

¨ Although the original shop has had many subsequent owners and renovations, it still occupies the same site today, on the corner of Toorbul Street and First Avenue Service Road.

Hall and Bestmann Store 1920s

  

Business on Bribie.

¨ Saplings were cut and stacked beside the shop as tent poles for sale or hire to campers to erect their teowned in partnership by Artie Bestmann and Jack Bishop.

¨ A Pontoon owned in partnership by Artie Bestmann and Jack Bishop was used to take cows with calf to Bongaree.  This pontoon also brought the “First Car” to Bongaree in 1918.

¨ During the time of the Winston Bros. ownership, a wooden seat was placed on the footpath outside the shop.  This became a meeting place for locals who proclaimed it “The Seat of Knowledge”.

Hall & Bestmann Family History

¨ Alfred and Emily Hall had four sons—Roy, Hector, Len and Ian.  The boys helped out at the shop, delivering groceries by horse and cart to island residents.  In 1923 Len Hall, aged 15, worked in the shop alongside Artie Bestmann while his parents were on a trip to   England.

¨ In 1924, Alf Hall’s niece, Lilly, came out from England and she and husband Wilfred Cotterill ran a dairy and crop farm on what is now Cotterill Avenue.  Alfred Hall retired in 1926/27 dividing his assets with Arthur Bestmann.  He retained the 321 acres which the Cotterill family continued to farm on his behalf.  Always a keen bowler, Alfred was now able to enjoy this activity at the new bowls club.  He was elected the 2nd President of Bribie Island Bowls Club.

¨  Artie Bestmann continued in the store with the help of his sister Eda Bishop and his niece  Myrtle Bestmann.  The shop was later sold to the Winston Bros.  Artie continued to live at the back of the shop for a while. 

Fascinating Bribie History Revealed

The following article was published in The Bribie Islander, issue 18, January 2016, page 12.

Fascinating Bribie history revealed
Barry Clark - Bribie Island Historical Society & U3A Tutor.

Bribie Island has some quite remarkable and often surprising secrets to reveal ….

if you know where to look. 

Bongaree Foreshore in the 1960s
Source: Postcard folder kept by Ethel Smith.

Crowds awaiting bay steamer -
Steamship arriving at Bongaree Jetty 1930s
Source: Robertson family photos R10_08

   
   When James Cook sailed past, far off the coastline in 1770, he observed the far away volcanic outcrops and named them the “Glasshouses”, as they reminded him of the Glass making Factories in his distant homeland.
   When Mathew Flinders and his aboriginal companion Bongaree came to explore this Bay almost 30 years later in 1799, he was the first European to set foot on what is now Bribie Island. He explored and mapped Moreton Bay but failed to find the Brisbane river . He did row a small boat up what he named the Pumicestone river, and climbed one of the Glasshouse mountains.
   After that the first white people to actually live here came 24 years later in 1823, when 3 castaway convicts lost in a huge storm out of Sydney, were eventually washed up weeks later on Moreton Island. They were very lucky to be alive at all, and with considerable help from the native people they walked for months around the Bay and eventually lived for many months on Bribie Island island before being rescued.
   They were found almost a year later by those sent in search of a site for a new Penal Colony in Moreton Bay. The worst of the worst convicts from Sydney were initially sent to a small Penal Settlement at Redcliffe in 1824, which was relocated after a few months to what is now the city of Brisbane.
   The Penal Colony was closed after a few years and Queensland was opened up to exploration and free settlement.

The new State of Queensland

Archibald Meston
Archibald Meston did not think much of Bribie in 1891
Source: John Oxley Library, StateLibQld_1_53084

   In 1859 Queensland was established as a new and self governing State of Australia, separated from NSW.
   Within just a few years the extensive Aboriginal population of Moreton Bay had been reduced to just a few.  To protect their declining numbers Queensland’s first Aboriginal reserve was established in 1877  here on Bribie Island at Whitepatch. It lasted only a short time, as did the Aboriginal School at Mission Point in 1891.
In 1891 Bribie Island was briefly visited by Archibald Meston, an Explorer, Author and Politician, and an official “Protector of the Aborigines”. He made this comment…...

“Bribie Island is one of the meanest piece of country in Australia……a howling desert of tea-tree swamps, rank aquatic vegetation and unimaginable cussedness.” Archibald Meston.

Hall & Bestmann Store -
The only shop on Bribie in the 1920s
Source: John Oxley Library, Mbrc_P1675

   It is therefore quite remarkable that just a few years later the Directors of the Brisbane Tug & Steamship Company decided to invest tens of millions of pounds, building a steam ship and leasing large areas of the Island, to turn Bribie into Australia’s first Island holiday destination.
In 1912 they built a Jetty at Bongaree, the steamship "Koopa" was steamed out from UK to Moreton Bay to start regular "Excursion" trips from Brisbane via Redcliffe to Bribie Island.

 
The next 20 years saw Bribie develop as a destination for mass tourism, with many thousands of visitors coming by steam ships every weekend and holiday, to enjoy a cheap and healthy holidays here.

Bribie Jetty - Huge crowds swarm off steamships in 1930s
Source: Robertson family photos R10_09

   At Christmas and Easter holidays there were more people camped along the foreshore at Bongaree than lived in the entire Caboolture Shire at that time.

Boom and Bust
   These “boom” years for Bribie tourism were interrupted in the 1930’s by the “Great Depression”, and soon after that came World War 2. These events led to great changes on the island as the Military moved in , most residents were moved out, and Bribie Island became a strategic training and defence location throughout the War years.

Banya Street in the 1940s with cows wandering about.
Source: Postcard folder, Murray Views.

   The “excursion” trade resumed again after the War, but by now the Motor Car was becoming the favoured form of transport, and more people braved the long and bumpy road trip to bring their car by ferry barge to the Island.
   By 1963 a bridge had been built and the Island was joined to mainland Australia.
   Looking back over those years since the first people came here, the Island has experienced some remarkable events, many of which often surprise residents and visitors.


Some things that may surprise you about Bribie are …

- There are over 50 Aboriginal sites officially gazetted on the Island, representing  occupation over many thousands of years.
- The Water Tower in the Caravan Park at Bongaree is on the site of a large Aboriginal shell midden.
- In the early days this area was known as “the Hill”, and was the highest point on the Island, before it was levelled.
- “Red Beach” is a name carried over from the War Years when Australian and US troops practiced beach landing craft training.
- Australia’s first Opera was written by Emily Coungeau in her grand home built in 1915, still standing in Banya Street, Bongaree.
- In the 1960’s an Ionospheric Research Centre was established by UQ on Bribie Island to study the behaviour of Radio signals.
- In 1968 the former operator of the Bribie car ferry service was required to pay $500,000 for unpaid back taxes.
- When the Bribie Island Bridge was officially opened to traffic in October 1963 a grand Ball was held at Bongaree.

Bribie Island is wonderful place to live, and has always had strong sense of community and a desire to preserve the unique nature of "Island Life" which may be in danger of becoming lost in our greater Regional structure .

Over the years the residents of Bribie Island made three very determined, but in each case unsuccessful, attempts to break away from Caboolture Shire and establish Bribie Island as its own Shire. These attempts at secession were in 1914, 1932 and 1967, reflecting various periods of significant growth and change over the years.

Sunshine Coast Historian and Journalist Stan Tutt made this comment about the area:

 “It might not be too much to claim, Pumicestone Passage and Bribie Island, contain more history, written and unwritten, than any other place in Queensland.” Stan Tutt.