About Stradbroke Island...

Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. A particularly severe storm in 1896 made a permanent breach roughly half way down the island's length, so that the island is now two islands separated by the Jumpinpin Channel.

North Stradbroke Island is the larger of the two, about 38 km long and up to 11 km wide.
South Stradbroke Island is about 22 km long and at most 2 km wide.

North Stradbroke is the more developed of the two islands, with the three small townships of Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout offering vacation rentals, shops and a range of eateries. It also has a sealed, bitumen road network.

South Stradbroke, while less developed, has a number of anchorages, campsites, and two major tourist resorts, Couran Cove and South Stradbroke Island Resort, or Tipplers. There are no sealed roads on the island.

Although the islands (at the time it was just one island) were sighted by both Captain James Cook and Matthew Flinders it wasn't until 1827 that the name Stradbroke, after the then Earl of Stradbroke, was given to the island by his son, Captain H. J. Rous, the commander of the HMS Rainbow.

Popular activities on both islands include whale watching, camping, hiking, surfing and fishing.

North Stradbroke Island

• is noted for the long, clean white beaches of its eastern coastline, the rich diversity of its flora which includes wild orchids, and its isolation and peacefulness.
• Dunwich - The ferries, barges and water taxis from the mainland arrive at Dunwich on the western side of North Stradbroke Island. This old settlement was first established in 1827 as a convict outstation. It is possible to see the old stone wall of the original jetty on the northern side of the modern barge ramp.
  One of the most interesting areas of Dunwich is the cemetery (listed by the National Trust) which has graves which date from as early as 1847. It was the burial site for the 42 typhus victims who arrived aboard the Emigrant in 1849 and were quarantined on the island.
• Blue Lake National Park - The beautiful 445 ha Blue Lake National Park, located 10 km east of Dunwich, has an unusual freshwater water table lake set in sand dunes. The fauna in the park includes swamp wallabies, skinks, ospreys and the mottled tree frog and the flora ranges from dry sclerophyll forest through heath, swamps, marshes, and scrub. It is possible, although rare, to see the golden wallabies in the area.
• Brown Lake - (the native name is Bumeira) offers freshwater swimming and Eighteen Mile Swamp supports a rich variety of native fauna.
• Point Lookout - Its steep cliffs offer excellents views and between June and September, Humpback whales make their way past the island on their way to the breeding grounds further north.
• Twenty-Two Mile Beach -To the south of Point Lookout is Twenty-Two Mile Beach with its extensive Aboriginal middens of shells where, long before the arrival of Europeans, Aborigines feasted on the molluscs they collected in the area.
  

South Stradbroke Island

South Stradbroke Island features 22 km of ocean beaches. It is accessible via a ferry which departs from Runaway Bay marina, about 9 km north of Surfers Paradise.