Historical Australian Towns

Radium Hill, SA: First uranium Mine in Australia

The Radium Hill is located near Olary in eastern South Australia, approximately 530 km northeast of Adelaide.

The story of this mine, mined for radium between 1906 and 1931 and for uranium between 1954 and 1961, involves Sir Douglas Mawson, Madame Curie and Professor Lord Rutherford.

Ngadjuri and Wilyakali People

Wilyakali traditional lands covered an estimated 8,400 square miles (22,000 km2) from the Barrier Ranges westwards to Olary in South Australia. The clan probably only comprised 60-80 people at any one time and they spoke a dialect of the Bargundji language ("river talk")

Ngadjuri occupied the central Flinders Ranges and the western portion of the Olary Ranges.

According to Norman Tindale, before the mid-1850s, the Wilyakali People retreated southwards to resist the Ngadjuri People who wanted them to adopt their Ceremonial rites. (circumcision rite)

It is likely that various Aboriginal groups travelled over the arid land around Radium Hill to trade stone, ochre, tools, ceremonial items and other resources. Many clans appear to have met at the rockholes at Mootwingee in NSW, which had water in drought times (Gerritsen, 1976).

Rock engravings (petroglyphs) from the Karolta site on the North Olary Plains are of great antiquity.

Various Aboriginal groups of the region identify collectively as the Adnyamathanha people.

Aboriginal cultures vary, but often, ceremonial occasions, involved scarification, circumcision, subincision and, in some regions, also the removal of a tooth.

For Aboriginal people scarification has been used as a rite of passage, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924)

Aboriginal people in corroboree costume at Carriewerloo Station, South Australia. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 1 July 1905

1890s

Uranium was first discovered in the Mount Lofty Ranges in 1890 .

1900s

By 1906, prospector Arthur John Smith had found and named the Little Queen Bee gold and copper mine, Outalpa gold mine, Boomerang gold mine, and King's Bluff copper mine.

In that same year, 1906, Smith was in the Outalpa area, near Olary, when he thought he'd found tin oxide or tungsten (Wolfram) when camped at Teasdale’s dam. He pegged a claim on 20th March, then travelled with his ore samples to Adelaide by train. The samples were later found to be radio-active.

Mr A. J. Smith, discovered ore at Radium Hill, SA, Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 1 June 1913

The future Antarctic explorer, Douglas Mawson, was a geologist at Adelaide University where the ore samples were tested and named, the uranium/radium bearing mineral "Davidite", after Professor Edgeworth David. Mawson also proposed the name Radium Hill for the site. The mine was called "Smith's Carnotite Mine" (a similar uranium-bearing mineral) at first.

In 1906, Mawson spent weeks exploring the Olary Ranges region on horse and motorbike. He found rocks dating from one of the planet’s oldest and most widespread ice ages.

Dr. Douglas Maw soil, of SouthAustralia,... who has plans for an Australian Antarctic Expedition.Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 11 January 1911

Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 10 November 1909

In the early days Radium Hill produced radium for Marie Sklodowska-Curie who was awarded her second Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium in 1911. Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics and the first man to successfully slit an atom, also received Radium Hill radium.

One of the stages in the break-down of uranium to radium is the production of a radioactive gas, radon, which, in a matter of a few days, disintegrates to form solid radioactive products, which adhere to dust particles and can be inhaled.

Australian Museum

Radium Hill was isolated, dry, and arid. The days were hot and nights cold.

Radium reached a price of £13,000 per gram in 1911.

WWI

Mining ceased in 1914.

Waterfront land on Nelson Parade in Hunters Hill, NSW, was the site of the Radium Hill refinery, which closed in 1915.

RADIUM FACTORY AT SYDNEY (Hunter's Hill, NSW), Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 30 January 1914

1920s

Mining operations commenced again in 1923.

A treatment plant was built in 1923 at Dry Creek near Adelaide to produce radium bromide for medical applications, but was not cost-effective and ceased operations by 1932.

At Paralana Hot Springs, a private sanatorium near Mount Painter in the 1920s, patients and guests took baths in the thermal springs of naturally occurring radium.

1940s

After the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively, bringing an end to the war in the Pacific, finding uranium for atomic weapons and defence became a priority.

Labor Call (Melbourne, Vic. : 1906 - 1953), Thursday 29 May 1947,

The Housing Trust designed the town, building 145 houses between 1949 and 1952.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) formed in March 1949.

The Provisions of the Uranium Mining Act 1949 prevented employees from revealing information about their work. Oaths were required by employees.

Lunch time in the mess at Radium Hill, SA, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 28 July 1949

Radium Hill, SA, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 28 July 1949

1950s

The Korean War began in June 1950, and this anxious period motived the USA to contribute almost £4,000,000 to develop Radium Hill to supply uranium.

There was opposition in the community to atomic weapons, demonstrated by and during South Australian Peace Council’s two-day peace conference in June 1950.

In November 1951, a pilot plant was constructed at Radium Hill.

A power generator for electricity supply was installed in 1951. Water was pumped from a dam to a storage tank near the town. A pipeline was laid from the Umberumberka Reservoir near Broken Hill.

Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Monday 24 March 1952

Radium Hill, SA, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 11 December 1952

Radium Hill, SA, uranium mine in 1952 - drive in. (It was not heritage listed). Photo SLSA B-70347.

The Radium Hill underground mine was recommissioned in a full-scale operation in 1954 and operated by the South Australian Government, for the British and US nuclear weapons programs. (also, a rare earths treatment plant at Port Pirie)

At Radium Hill Australian Inland Mission (AIM) Hospital, 117 babies were born between 1953 and 1961.The AIM also provided health care services to the miners and their families. The nursing sisters lived in the adjoining house and were on call 24/7.

There was also a public school and Kindergarten, post office, police station, government retail store, weather Station, State Bank branch and a civic hall. And, later, a wet canteen ( two Nissen huts), milk bar, library, swimming pool, recreation room and drive-in cinema.

Swimming pool at Radium Hill, SA

Two churches were built by volunteers; a Catholic Church with school and a Uniting Church used by all other de-nominations.

Sports included soccer, cricket, Australian Rules football, tennis and golf.

Officially opened by Governor-General Sir William Slim on 10 November 1954.

RADIUM HILL MINE OPENING, SA. Radium Hill mine which was opened last week by the Governor-General (Sir William Slim) . This was revealed at the official luncheon by the Premier (Mr. Playford), Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

Radium Hill, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

Radium Hill Mine, SA, In the mine shaft at the 200 foot level (L to R) — The Premier (Mr. Playford), the Minister of Mines (Sir Lyell McEwin), the Governor-General (Sir William Slim), and the general manager of the Radium Hill project (Mr. T. A. Rodgers). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

Miners listen to Sir William Slim's opening address, Radium Hill, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

The head frame showing the entrance to the shaft. (L to R) — R. Archer, a mine surveyor, and W. Cahill, a miner. Radium Hill, SA Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

The Flying Doctor wireless service has many uses for outback people. Here Mr. E. Foreman, whose wife gave birth to a daughter in Broken Hill the day before the mine (Radium Hill, SA) was opened, hears news of his wife and baby from the doctor at Broken Hill, while Sister J. McKay, of the Radium Hill Hospital, operates the wireless. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

The Governor-General (Sir William Slim in a mine shaft at the 200-foot level, Radium Hill, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 18 November 1954

Bill (Hugger) Giles (pictured above) lives in an iron and wood dwelling at the end ofthe Radium Hill, SA, airstrip. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Friday 12 November 1954

Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 13 November 1954

Radium Hill, SA, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 13 November 1954

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954), Saturday 8 August 1953

Tent camp at Radium Hill, SA, 1950s

Radium Hill minesite, SA, 1954

A town for 1100 people was built at Radium Hill, with water piped from NSW. A railway spur connected Radium Hill with the Broken Hill–Port Pirie line, and a power line was constructed from Morgan.

The ore was sent by rail to Port Pirie for treatment and shipped to America or the United Kingdom.

The uranium grades at Radium Hill were moderate to low. However, the rare earths grade was exceptional, with values up to 7% rare earth oxides.

There was a growing, overseas demand for uranium for nuclear experiments and for emerging atomic power.

Radium Hill was a substantial employer of new migrants to Australia. Wages were high.

The safety measures involved frequent showers, washing clothes regularly, blood testing and dust monitoring.

Minig underground at Radium Hill, SA, Beaudesert Times (Qld. : 1908 - 1954), Friday 15 April 1955

Because the residents of Radium Hill were mostly single males, only beer (ale and stout) were sold at the canteen in an attempt to avoid trouble. Opening hours were also limited.

In April 1954, Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov, Soviet spies masquerading as diplomats in Canberra, defected to Australia. This led to security concerns, and some staff at Radium Hill were believed to be seconded from ASIO.

Site of Single Staff Mess and Living Quarters at Radium Hill, SA, South Australian History Network, (1953-1961)

United Church at Radium Hill, SA, (1953-1961), South Australian History Network

Catholic Church at Radium Hill, SA, (1953-1961), South Australian History Network

Radium Hill canteen was divided into two sections: one for men only and the other for women and their escorts (1.)

Radium Hill, SA, Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 4 July 1956

THE FRUIT and vegetable counter of the Government store are, from left, Mrs. Roy Simpson, Mrs. Stan Foubister, and Mrs. Jock Brown. All goods are sold at cost. Radium Hill, SA. Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 4 July 1956

GENERAL MANAGER of the Radium Hill project (SA), Mr. T. A. Rodgers (left), with Mr. John Kleeman, assistant mill superintendent, inspect flotation cells in the treatment plant. Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 4 July 1956

Timbering operation at the 400 foot level in the uranium mine at Radium Hill, South Australia, 1957, NLAUST

Radium Hill, SA, Walkabout. Vol. 24 No. 7 (1 July 1958)

1960s

The mine closed in December 1961. Later, it was revealed that radioactive ore was used to construct roads and other infrastructure and the tailings dam was not capped when the mine closed. The wind had dispersed tailings into the surrounding landscape.

By the end of 1963, 165 houses, cubicles and mining structures had been demolished.

1970s

In 1979, a study found that cancer-related deaths by former Radium Hill workers to be four times the national average.

1980s

Rehabilitation in the site occurred in the 1980s.

1990s

The Radium Hill health study was finally published in 1991, concluding that radiation may have contributed to the premature deaths of workers at the site.

In late 1997, it was revealed that the disused underground workings the Radium Hill mine had been a licensed repository for radioactive wastes since 1981.

2000s

The museum established by the Radium Hill Historical Association in an old circa 1926 ex-station hand’s cottage on Tikalina Station in 1996, closed in 2018 and is being relocated.

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission found that the former state-owned Radium Hill mine and associated Rare Earths Treatment Plant at Port Pirie, which closed in 1961 and 1962 respectively, were
not operated, regulated or decommissioned in accordance with current practice, and nor would they have been permitted under the current regulatory framework.

Radium Hill, SA, (abandoned uranium mine) and other mineral deposits, 2009. Frans de Wit

Today, all that remains of Radium Hill is some foundations, infrastructure remnants, tailings impoundment and some waste rock and heavy media reject piles.

Many cite environmental impacts, Aboriginal land access and nuclear proliferation as reasons for ceasing or restricting the nuclear industry.

Around Radium Hill

Concrete ore bins and silos, Radium Hill, SA

The Radium Hill Camp Ground from the top of Tank Hill, SA

Ruins of Swimming pool at Radium Hill, SA, South Australian History Network

Unsealed road from Radium Hill, leads to Barrier Highway via Tikilina Homestead, SA, 2011, South Australian History Network

Memorial stone at Radium Hill, on The Avenue, SA. The town's water tank on the hill in the distance, South Australian History Network

Site of Catholic Church at Radium Hill, SA. When they were demolishing the town after the mine closed in 1961, the cross fell onto the bull dozer's engine and damaged it. They thought it was divine intervention so the church was never fully demolished! South Australian History Network

Site of The Avenue at Radium Hill township, SA, South Australian History Network

Plaque at Radium Hill Pioneers Cemetery. The plaque lists those buried at the cemetery - it makes poignant reading. South Australian History Network

Tank Hill at Radium Hill, SA, 2 million gallon concrete water tank was built for the Radium Hill township, South Australian History Network

Radium Hill, SA, mining remains

Things To Do and Places to Go

Radium Hill Historical Association

The Radium Hill former uranium mine is located 40 kilometres southwest of Cockburn in South Australia and approximately 110 kilometres from Broken Hill.

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