Wynnum, Manly and Lota sit on Quandamooka — Moreton Bay — and the district’s recorded history runs from deep Aboriginal occupation through colonial settlement, wartime defence, and the long slow making of a seaside suburb.
These pages draw on three local histories, listed at the foot of each, and on material gathered by this site over many years. They are a starting point rather than the last word.
The first people
The Noonuccal, Goenpul and Ngugi peoples have looked after this bay and its islands for thousands of years, and they are still here. Wynnum itself takes its name from winnam, the pandanus palm, and it is one of the few Aboriginal place names still in everyday use across the district.
Quandamooka: the first people of Moreton Bay →
European arrival and settlement
Matthew Flinders sailed into Moreton Bay in 1799 and, like James Cook before him, missed the mouth of the river entirely. It was found by accident more than twenty years later by three shipwrecked timber-getters. Permanent settlement of the district came later still, after Queensland had separated from New South Wales.
The first land sales here took place in 1860. The auction of the Manly Beach Estate in 1882 signalled what the area might become, but the change that mattered most was the railway, which opened in 1889 and turned a farming and fishing district into a seaside resort reachable from Brisbane in an hour.
Defence
The bayside was never only a holiday place. In 1877 Lytton was chosen as the best point from which to defend the Brisbane River, and Fort Lytton was built and repeatedly upgraded through three decades of invasion scares. Coastal batteries were re-established during both world wars.
Landmarks
The Shire Clerk’s Cottage in the heart of Wynnum was the residence of the clerk to the Kianawah Divisional Board, then the Wynnum Shire Council, until the area was absorbed into the Brisbane City Council in 1926. It was restored in 1984 and is still in use.
The Wynnum wading pool was built as Depression relief work and opened in 1932. It fills naturally with seawater at high tide through valves in the sea wall, and it is still busy on a hot weekend.
The stone sea wall was another Depression project. It allowed the salt flats behind it to be reclaimed as parkland, and Pandanus Beach opened in 1987.
The Manly Boat Harbour, the largest small-craft harbour in Queensland, was begun in 1958 and became home to a number of clubs, among them the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.
More
- Quandamooka: the first people of Moreton Bay
- Settlement of the bayside
- How the district was governed
- Places and businesses
- Schools and churches
- Wynnum Manly heritage trail
Sources
- Armstrong, H.W. (1971) The History and Development of the Wynnum District, Brisbane
- Beitz, M.N. (1982) Mangroves to Moorings: The Past 100 Years of Manly, Queensland, Manly Centenary Committee, Brisbane