Coochiemudlo Island Heritage Society
Celebrating our Environment, Culture and History
Heritage contributes to our sense of place
We’re committed to identifying and preserving our cultural and environmental heritage. We collect local records and artifacts, run informative workshops and events that help build a knowledgeable and engaged community.
Upcoming Event
Follow-up from the Rosemary Opala Retrospective
CIHS event held Sept.–Oct. 2023
Kate Barker — wordsmith, poet, and Coochiemudlo Island resident — wrote and delivered an inspired poem in response to the Opala event.
The Emerald Fringe
An initiative by the Surveyor General Qld in 1878 created the Emerald Fringe as we know it. Now heritage listed, it is a valuable part of our island’s unique eco diversity.
Herbarium Collection
In 2006, several Bushcarers on the island began collecting samples of both native and introduced island flora, and pressing them for safe-keeping and display.
Become a member!
Join CIHS in our mission to celebrate Coochiemudlo Island’s environmental and cultural heritage.
We’re in Quandamooka Country
We acknowledge the traditional rights of the Quandamooka people over
Coochiemudlo Island, and their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
The traditional owners called the island Goochie Mudlo, or Kutchi Mudlo, meaning red earth.
Quandmooka dancers at an event on Coochiemdudlo Island.
Flinders landing on Coochiemudlo Island
Moreton Bay was explored for the first time in July 1799, when Matthew Flinders in the Norfolk, a 25-ton sloop built at Norfolk Island, sailed into the Bay on a voyage of discovery. Flinders hoped to find a considerable river flowing into the Bay, and so be able to penetrate into the interior of the country. However, although he failed to find a river of the type he was seeking, he landed on a ‘sixth island’ in the southern part of Moreton Bay. That ‘sixth island’ was Coochiemudlo.
Every year the residents of Coochiemudlo hold a re-enactment to mark the anniversary of the landing.
Articles from Coochie residents
Coochiemudlo Island Heritage Society acknowledges the Quandamooka of the Jandai language group as the traditional custodians and caretakers of the island we call home. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.