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.

Kate Barker — the island’s resident wordsmith and poet — wrote and delivered an inspired poem in response to the Opala event.

Read Kate’s poem

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.

About our Emerald Fringe →

Aerial view of Coochiemudlo Island, taken from the south-east.

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.

About the Herbarium Collection →

Become a member!

Join CIHS in our mission to celebrate Coochiemudlo Island’s environmental and cultural heritage.

How to join →

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

Ted Jones as Matthew Flinders on Norfolk Beach on Coochiedmudo Island with an old replica sailing boat in the background.

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 in July, the residents of Coochiemudlo hold a re-enactment to mark the anniversary of the landing.

Articles

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.