Historical Australian Towns: Peel Island, QLD: Ceremonial Place, Quarantine Station, Place For Alcoholics, and Leper Colony

The heritage-listed Peel Island and national park, located in Moreton Bay, QLD, is approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Brisbane. The now uninhabited island is passed on the way to North Stradbroke Island. It has been an Aboriginal ceremonial place, a quarantine station, place for Alcoholics, and leper colony.

Accessible only by boat or watercraft, Peel Island also has an historic shipwreck, the "Platypus", located in the southeast corner of Peel Island.

The island is owned by the Quandamooka Yoolloobarrabee people and jointly managed with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Quandamooka Yoolloobarrabee People

Used for ceremonial purposes, Peel Island is called Teerk Roo Ra in the language of the Quandamooka People, meaning "place of many shells".

Three distinct tribes (clans) belong to the Quandamooka group of people: the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi. Peel Island has been called: Turkroor, Dairkooreeba and Chercrooba.

The term Quandamooka refers to the geographic area of southern Moreton Bay, the waters, islands and adjacent coastal areas of the mainland.

Elder of Moreton Bay, QLD. Photograph taken in the late 1860s

Buangan (Dolphin) is a sacred totem of the Quandamooka Peoples. Aboriginal men would slap the water and dig in the sand with their spears to communicate with the dolphins. The dolphins would herd groups of fish toward the shore where the men waited with nets. After catching enough fish, the Aboriginal men would feed fish to the dolphins.

Aboriginal clans usually had divisions between male and female roles. Men were the hunters of large land animals and birds, fish, dugongs and turtles, moving with seasons and availability to find new sources of food. Women gathered vegetables, roots, nuts, eggs and shellfish.

A traditional gunya beside a canvas gunya in the Deception Bay area, demonstrating the merging of tools and materials as Aboriginal peoples and new arrivals mingled, 1894. From the Bancroft Collection

The kinship system would determine suitable marriage partners in traditional Aboriginal society. Marriages were, however, often polygynous (with a husband having two or more wives). A person also couldn't marry someone of the same totem. A person of the Emu totem must marry a Kangaroo totem partner and visa versa.

Quandamooka Dreaming stories tell of the Rainbow Serpent (also known as Kabul the Carpet Snake) as an Ancestor of the Quandamooka people who, on his journey through Quandamooka Country, shaped the land and the ancestral pathways (songlines).

1700s

Peel Island was charted by Matthew Flinders in 1799 on the sloop "Norfolk". The crew included Matthew Flinders' brother, Samuel and Bongaree, a Broken Bay (NSW) Aboriginal man. Flinders was also the first explorer to enter Glass House Bay (now Moreton Bay).

Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia

1820s

John Oxley (explorer and surveyor of Australia) anchored the brig "Amity" at the south-west end of Peel Island, in October 1824 and spent the day ashore examining the island while themaster of the brig, proceeded in the whaleboat to examine the channels between the island and the mainland.

The Amity was a 148-ton brig used in several notable voyages of exploration and settlement in Australia

The island was named Peel Island after Sir Robert Peel. (The Metropolitan Police in London was formed by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 and police officers were often called "Peelers" and "Bobbies")

1830s

Reverend John Dunmore Lang who began interacting with the Aboriginal people of Moreton Bay about 1831, said that the Aboriginal traditional form of government is rather democratical than patriarchal or kingly. Their internal polity, however, is far from being arbitrary, being very much regulated by certain traditionary laws and institutions, of which the obligation is imperative upon all, and the breach of which is uniformly punished with death. (1.)

1850s

In Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland, he described a "pullen-pullen” (fights), with about 700 Aboriginal people, including those from Logan, Stradbroke and Moreton Island, which entailed a major kippa-making ceremony, corroboree, and a staged fight. Read here

1860s

The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum was established in 1865, with the purpose to care for those unable to provide for themselves, by the government of the new colony of Queensland on North Stradbroke Island. It served the whole of Queensland.

Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 2 January 1869

1870s

In 1873, Peel Island was proclaimed a reserve to accommodate infectious passengers for up to 3 months on the south-east corner of the island.

The immigrant ship, "Friedeburg" departed Hamburg, Germany, on 22 June 1878, travelling to Australia via Rio de Janeiro. There were four cases of typhoid fever, 18 or more deaths from tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles and one drowning. One woman, Dorothea Niebling aged 40, died of dysentery after prematurely giving birth. She was buried on Peel Island. The rest of her family continued on to Brisbane.

The ship “Friedeburg”, Ca. 1872

Ships in quarantine at Peel Island 1873 - 1896

1880s

Peel Island Quarantine Station, QLD, 1880s. Photograph: John Oxley Library

South Sea Islanders lined up outside the quarantine station on Peel Island, QLD, ca. 1885

South Sea Islanders at the quarantine station on Peel Island, QLD, ca. 1885

Dunwich shore viewed from Peel Island, QLD, ca. 1885, SLQLD

Wilson sisters' grave, leper quarantine station, Peel Island, QLD, 1887

Cricket match at the quarantine station Peel Island Lazaret, QLD, 1885

1890s: No Treatment for Leprosy

After a large increase in incidence of leprosy, the Leprosy Act of 1892 allowed for the forced removal of people with the disease, to be held until their symptoms subsided.

Leprosy (Hansen disease) is a chronic bacterial infection mostly affecting the skin and peripheral nerves. The disfiguring skin sores created fear for many and as there was no proven treatment for leprosy at the time, isolation from the rest of the population was enforced by health authorities.

Two lazarets (leper colony) were established: One on Stradbroke Island for white patients, the other on Friday Island in the Torres Straits for non-Europeans. However, various difficulties led the government to close both institutions and establish a multi-racial lazaret on Peel Island in the early 1900s.

Pineapple and Wallaby Carvings, Peel Island Lazaret, QLD, ca.1890

Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Thursday 25 August 1892

Myora Mission was established as a mission station, for Aboriginal people in 1892 on Stradbroke Island. It became an Aboriginal reserve and "industrial and reform school" in 1896. (closed in 1846)

1900s

PEEL ISLAND.
The old men from Dunwich now quartered

at Peel Island were entertained on
Saturday night by Mr. and Mrs. F. Watts
and party, who, with the assistance of
Misss Slaughter and Miss Winnie Dickson,
made the evening enjoyable . The songs,
recitations, readings, and selections on the
autoharp were highly appreciated by the
old men, who at the close of the enter-
tainment gave vent to their feelings of
pleasure by three hearty cheers for the
visitors.
PEEL ISLAND. (1905, September 12). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933)

In 1906, 160 acres on the north west corner of the island was gazetted as a reserve for lazaret (leper colony). The lazaret opened with 70 patients, with inmates categorised into three separate compounds - male, female and "coloured".

Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 18 February 1905 (Phonopore definition: a device that conveys sound using electrical impulses along telegraph lines)

Horseshoe Bay, Peel Island, QLD, 1906

In 1907 leprosy became a notifiable disease. The belief was that isolation would stop the disease spreading throughout Queensland. Suffers were sent to Peel Island: Women, children, men and in some cases, whole families.

Between 1907 and 1959, Peel island was a multiracial lazaret.

Newly built huts at the lazaret on Peel Island, QLD, ca.1907

Peel Island, QLD, Lazaret huts and kitchen buildings, ca.1907

Aboriginal patients at the lazaret on Peel Island, QLD, 1907

Men from Barambah/Cherbourg working on Peel Island, QLD, early 1900s

Deycke's Nastin Treatment of Leprosy in Queensland, 1909 to 1913

In 1904 Georg Deycke, a German physician working in Constantinople claimed that he had discovered a treatment for leprosy. However, the drug (nastin) required injections of the culture of the Bacillus of leprosy and was potentially dangerous. A trial of nastin was instigated, but by 1913, was discontinued in Queensland and around the world, showing little positive effect.

Injections of chaulmoogra nut had been used in the East against leprosy for hundreds of years. This treatment was often painful and nauseating and long-term benefits were doubtful.

In 1909 improvements were made to the living accomodations.

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 20 November 1910

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 25 September 1910

Peel Island Lazaret, Caretaker Quarters, QLD, 1913, SLQLD

WWI

An Inebriate Institution was established for alcoholics, operating on Peel Island but moving back to Dunwich (Stradbroke) as men started returning from the First World War.

Dr James Booth-Clarkson, who had had a military career, became the Medical Superintendent of the Asylum from May 1918. More than 220 returned soldiers were sent or chose to go to The Dunwich Inebriate Institution on Peel Island until 1925. Their stay there was generally about three months.

The idea was that the isolated island, dry community, would remove people from temptation.

PEEL ISLAND. A proclamation has been issued declaring Peel Island to be a reserve under theNative Birds Protection Acts.Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Monday 17 June 1918

1920s

Salvation Army band visiting Peel Island Lazaret (Leper Colony), QLD, during 1920s

Horseshoe Bay's Mystery Grave, rumoured to be a crew member from Matthew Flinders expedition, was revealed to be T.J.Ives, a comedian and actor from Islington in London, who had died from smallpox after only two weeks in Queensland.

Horseshoe Bay's Mystery Grave, Peel Island, QLD, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 21 April 1923

Photo Top. A CONFIRMATION AT THE LAZARET Archbishop Sharp, with Aleck Ling (lay reader) and the confirmation candidates. Peel Island, QLD. Photo Bottom. The alter in the lepers' church PeelIsland. VIC. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 27 January 1923

A VETERAN DREDGE GOING TO HER DOOM. — The Platypus being towed down the river yeiterddy to a position off PeelIsland, where she will be sunk to-day to form a breakwater. The Platypus was built in Scotland in 1883. Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903; 1916 - 1926), Thursday 21 October 1926

1930s

A Specimen of Carving by an Aboriginal inmate. The Fish is symbolic of his Religion. It is appropriate in that it stands on the Corner of Church Grounds. Peel Island, QLD. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Thursday 10 September 1931

Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 28 April 1934

"Chum" everybody's friend at Peel Island, QLD, Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 9 January 1934

Group of native children on recovery list, Peel Island, QLD, Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 9 January 1934

Carved from a single piece of wood, these ornamental fencing posts are one of the most interesting features of the Peel Island Lazarette.Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Tuesday 9 January 1934

Quaint carvings on posts at the Peel Island church (QLD). They ere executed by a leper boy from Palm Island, and they represent a, pineapple and a kangaroo. Carvings and posts are in one piece. .Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 147), Saturday 10 October 1936

Visitors to Peel Island Leprosy colony were transported form the stone jetty to the Lazaret by a horse named Dolly and a dray.

'Visitors to Peel Island Leprosy colony were transported form the stone jetty to the Lazaret by horse ('Dolly') and dray*, 1938. State Library of Queensland

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 11 December 1938

1940s and WWII

Leprosy was considered "incurable" until the discovery of a drug called Promin in the 1940s, when after several months, some patients treated with this drug showed improvement in their leprous lesions.

Lazaret tennis court, Peel Island, QLD, ca.1940

Sick Wife—Secret Rendezvous TROUBLE FOLLOWS HUSBAND'S RUSE READING almost like an Odyssey from ancient tales of Greek mythology, but with more pathetic and far-reaching materialism, came a story, last week, in the Brisbane Summons Court of a husband's poignant love for his wife. Condemned because of the terrible scourge of leprosy, to the isolation lazaret at Peel Island, a young wife, only 27 years of age, sought surcease for her loneliness in furtive rendezvous with her husband. Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 21 September 1941

Church on Peel island, QLD, Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 15 June 1941

Speaking on the vote for Lazarets in Parliament to-day the Minister for Health and Hopie Affairs (Mr.. Hanlon) said there was now a fine hospital at Peel Island. The. Government hoped, in the course of time, to6e able to erect a modern building on the lines of a sanatorium. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Wednesday 5 November 1941

Peel Island Lazaret, QLD, ca.1945. Patients constructed their own tennis court at the lazaret during the 1940s. The male patients' common room is behind the tennis court, with their wash house at right. In the background are male patients' huts. (Description supplied with photograph)

Jetty at the Peel Island Lazaret, QLD, ca. 1945, STQLD

Two Leprosy sufferers pose in front of a truck used to transport patients to Peel Island, QLD, 1945

Treatment with the drug Promin became available to treat leprocy.

Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Saturday 13 March 1948

Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Monday 12 January 1948

Girl Takes Lazaret Job Miss Dorothy Herbert, of Dornoch Terrace, South Brisbane, University biology demonstrator, will ao to Peel Island this week to take over the laboratory being established at the lazaret. Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Monday 12 January 1948

1950s

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 26 March 1950

The wrecked luxury launch Boonooroo aground on rocks at PeeJ Island, QLD. Photograph shows the., big hole torn in the bows with ocrew member on the rail. Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Monday 9 October 1950

Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Wednesday 11 October 1950

The boatman, 67-years-old diminutive, weather-beaten, steely-eyed Alfred Martin had 47 years' service with the Department of Health and Home Affairs. Since 1910 he has been chief engineer in the State Government launch Karboola, plying between Cleveland, Peel Island and Dunwich. He entered the service in sailing boats in 1903, Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Saturday 21 April 1951

The lazaret reached its largest size in 1955. There existed a recreation building, medical dispensary, surgery and hospital and two churches and administrative buildings.

Huts on Peel Island, QLD, ca.1950

Huts on Peel Island, ca.1950. Photo - Dr Morgan Gabriel

Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Saturday 14 January 1950

By 1959, patient numbers were so few that the lazaret closed

1970s

Peel Island has been part of a declared fish habitat zone since 1971. The Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef to the north of Peel Island was created in 1975 with more than 17,000 old car tyres over a five-year period. (extended 1988)

1990s

The Peel Island lazaret was inscribed into the Queensland Heritage Register in 1993.

2007

In 2007, the island was declared as Teerk Roo Ra National Park and Conservation Park.

2011

On 4 July 2011, the Quandamooka people were granted Native title to a 568-square-kilometre (219 sq mi) plot of land, covering most of North Stradbroke Island, many smaller islands, and the adjoining parts of Moreton Bay.

The wreck of the "Platypus", Peel Island, QLD, sunk as an artificial reef to provide some shelter from SE winds for those landing. This wreck was a bucket dredge that in the early years of last century dredged out shipping channels in ports along the Queensland coast. Off Peel Island, in 2009

West Peel Artificial Reef, located west of Peel Island and north-east of Cleveland Point, was completed in 2010.

2022

"Notorious", a recreation of a 1480s caravel vessel, researched, designed and constructed by Graeme Wylie, was seen near Peel Island in February.

"Notorious", a recreation of a 1480s caravel vessel, researched, designed and constructed by Graeme Wylie, was seen near Peel Island, QLD

For a small fee it is possible to camp overnight on Peel Island. However, as the island is surrounded by Moreton Bay Marine Park, there are some restrictions on fishing and recreational activities.

Around Peel Island