Fraser Island History

Fraser Island European History

European involvement on Fraser Island may go back as far as a voyage by Portuguese explorer de Menonca around 1521. Clay pipes found in middens at Indian Head are thought to be evidence of undocumented visits by Dutch navigators in the 17 Century.

Captain Cook first sighted the Fraser Island in May 1770 and thought it to be part of the mainland. Sighting Aborigines on a large rocky headland he named it Indian Head.

Early European contact, initiated by Matthew Flinders in 1802, was sporadic and limited to explorers, escaped convicts and shipwreck survivors.

In 1836 a number of survivors of the shipwrecked Sterling Castle lived for about six weeks on the island before being rescued. During these six weeks, hostility and aggression developed between the Europeans and the Aborigines. One of the survivors was Eliza Fraser, the wife of the captain of the Sterling Castle, Captain James Fraser, after whom Europeans named the island.

Timber on Fraser Island was first cut by Yankee Jack Piggott in 1863. Logging ceased in 1991 following recommendations of the Fraser Island Fitzgerald Inquiry.
An area just to the south of Kingfisher Bay was a quarantine and immigration station in the 1860s to handle the immigrants during the Gympie gold rush.

Sand mining leases were granted in 1950 and the last sand mining operations ceased in 1977.