Queensland
The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, likely via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait. There are over 90 different language groups.
The coast of Queensland was first sighted by European explorer, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, in 1606. French and Spanish navigators (commanded by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Luís Vaez de Torres, respectively) also explored its coastline before Captain Cook.
European settlement began around 1823, when John Oxley, a British explorer, left what is now Sydney and at Moreton Bay, he found the wide and meandering Brisbane River. In 1824 a penal settlement was established at Redcliffe. Originally known as Edenglassie, Redcliffe was found unacceptable and it was transferred to Moreton Bay (Brisbane) becoming notorious for harsh and cruel penalties and punishments. The transportation of convicts ceased in 1839 and the Moreton Bay penal settlement was then closed.
Queensland was opened to free settlers in 1842 and the famous influx of German missionaries to German station (now known as Nundah) was encouraged by the Reverend John Dunmore Lang. The Port of Maryborough was opened in 1847 as a wool port. Most early immigrants came from New South Wales, usually taking the steamer from Sydney. The first free immigrant vessel holding British subjects to arrive in Moreton Bay from Europe was the barque Artemisia. In the Queensland summer in mid-December 1848, around 250 free settlers arrived from a wintry Britain, Scotland and Ireland. Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859."[1]
Names of Persons
Mrs L.F. Cavanagh, Brisbane
Charles Faulkner, Brisbane, Bundaberg
Nicholas Johns, Great Blackball Copper Mines, about 80 miles from Rockhampton
Andrew Lister, Charters Towers, Mt Morgan, Rockhampton
Alexander MacDonald, Copperfield, Peak Downs
William Mitchell, Longreach