Moreton Bay
The Moreton Bay is a large bay on the east coast of Australia . It is located on the Coral Sea , a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean , in the south of Queensland and off the capital Brisbane . It is bounded to the north by the Sunshine Coast and to the south by the Gold Coast .
The access route to the port of Brisbane runs through Moreton Bay. For residents of the area, Moreton Bay offers numerous opportunities for water sports and fishing and is a popular recreational area for residents of the nearby capital. The main approach lane for Brisbane International Airport also runs over Moreton Bay and thus offers an opportunity to fly into the airport without causing great noise for residents of the capital and its neighboring towns.
history
Discovery and settlement by Europeans
The name Moreton Bay was given by James Cook on May 15, 1770 when he passed the area with his ship. Cook only gave the name to the bay that is formed by the northern end of North Stradbroke Island and the east side of Moreton Island . The passage between the two islands and today's Moreton Bay probably remained undiscovered by Cook and were not explored by him.
The name Moreton goes back to James Douglas Morton , who was President of the Royal Society at the time of Cook's departure . The Moreton spelling is based on a typo in the first publication of Cooks Reise and has been preserved in this form to this day.
The first European known to have explored what is now Moreton Bay was Matthew Flinders in 1799, who anchored in the Pumicestone Passage at Bribie Island , Redcliffe and Coochiemudlo Island . In 1823 the Brisbane River was explored by John Oxley , who built the first settlement in the bay the following year on the site of today's Redcliffe; however, it was abandoned two years later.
In 1824 construction began on Queensland's first convict settlement, Moreton Bay Convict Colony . It was located a few miles upstream on the Brisbane River at Redcliffe Point, which is now Brisbane's business district. This convict colony became notorious for the brutal sentences that Captain Patrick Logan carried out from 1826 onwards, imposed on both convicts and soldiers. These punishments, such as 100 lashes for triviality, made this penal colony feared and hated. In addition, an army outpost was set up at Amity Point on North Stradbroke Island.
In the 1850s, Moreton Bay began to be used for industrial purposes. The tides in the bay were used to collect wood that had been felled in the surrounding area and prepare it for shipment to Sydney .
Aboriginal
Long before the arrival of European settlers, the area around Moreton Bay was inhabited by Aborigines . At the beginning of the European settlement there was little contact between settlers and Aborigines. Most contacts were initially voluntary and conflicts did not arise until the 1830s, after the settlers came into contact with the traditional rules of life and disregarded the sacred places of the Aborigines.
There were major conflicts only after the area around Moreton Bay and the local convict colony was opened to free citizens for settlement. As a result, the Aborigines lost their ancestral camps and hunting grounds and were thus forced to kill the settlers' animals, which in turn led to acts of revenge by the settlers who killed Aborigines in the process.
However, on some of the islands in the bay, the Aboriginal tribes remained relatively undisturbed and were able to maintain their traditional lifestyle. It was not until the middle of the 19th century, when the settlement of the bay continued to increase, that these tribes also increasingly came into contact with the settlers. This was a result of the disappearance of the tribes on the mainland, as they previously had regular social and economic relations with the island tribes.
geography
Moreton Bay has a north-south extension of almost 160 kilometers. The northernmost extension of the bay extends to Caloundra at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast, the southernmost extension is reached on the Gold Coast Seaway south of South Stradbroke Island .
The bay is separated from the coral sea by several large sand islands; they are from north to south: Moreton Island, North Stradbroke Island, and South Stradbroke Island. While South Stradbroke Island is only a few hundred meters away from the mainland, the distance between Moreton Island and the Australian mainland is up to 30 kilometers.
In addition to the three large sand islands mentioned above, there are numerous other islands in the bay. The best known are Bribie Island, Mud Island , Peel Island , Macleay Island and Russel Island . There are around 360 islands in total in Moreton Bay.
There are numerous smaller bays within Moreton Bay. The largest are Deception Bay , Bramble Bay , Waterloo Bay, and Redland Bay . Numerous rivers flow into the bay, the Brisbane River being the largest. Others are the Pine River , the Nerang River, and the Logan River .
The bay is generally shallow and characterized by sandbanks . In the northern part of the bay, a shipping channel for the access to the port of Brisbane on Fisherman Islands is therefore artificially deepened in order to allow larger ships to enter the port.
Large parts of the mainland along Moreton Bay and some islands are settled. The most famous settlements along the bay are Deception Bay , Redcliffe , Sandgate , Wynnum , Wellington Point , Cleveland , Victoria Point and Redland Bay .
In the area of the airport and port of Brisbane, the mainland and the Fisherman Islands are being expanded through land reclamation measures in order to gain additional space for the expansion of the airport and port facilities. Most of the land reclamation is made of sand that is dredged elsewhere in Moreton Bay.
natural reserve
Large parts of Moreton Bay and its islands are protected in various national parks. The island of Moreton Island is protected in its entire extent in the Moreton Island National Park. The same applies to the island of St. Helena and the St. Helena Island National Park . Other islands or parts of islands are under protection in the Southern Moreton Bay Islands National Park . The Blue Lake National Park was established on North Stradbroke Island and large parts of South Stradbroke Island are protected by the South Stradbroke Island Conservation Park . Large parts of Bribie Island in the north are under protection in the Bribie Island National Park . The bay itself is in Moreton Bay Marine Park protected, who as World Heritage of UNESCO has been proposed.
Flora and fauna
The many protected areas in Moreton Bay are home to a large number of animals and plants. The islands and the shallow waters of the bay offer excellent breeding grounds for numerous bird species, which find a rich supply of food in the bay for rearing their offspring.
The underwater world of Moreton Bay is similarly rich in species. Whales , dolphins , dugongs , sharks , turtles and countless smaller fish species can be found in the bay. The bay is also home to the so-called Moreton Bay bug ( Thenus orientalis ), a scissor-less "lobster" (s. Slipper lobsters ), which is offered as a special delicacy in local restaurants.
Also named after Moreton Bay is the Moreton Bay fig (literally translated " Moreton Bay fig ", common German name: large-leaved fig ), which can be found in the bay and along large parts of the east coast of Australia.
Coordinates: 27 ° 20 ′ S , 153 ° 16 ′ E