NOTES ON THE ABORIGINALS, ETC., 41 



At the time of the advent of the Avhite man the two islands 

 must have been inhabited by numerous and powerful tribes of 

 well-groAvn and big-framed individuals. This was due to the 

 fact that they enjoyed large and easily obtained supplies of food, 

 chiefly from the sea. Fully half of them when I knew them 

 first would have been considered above the usual stature amongst 

 ourselves. 



Flinders, in 1799, was the first explorer to enter Moreton 

 Bay, but he does not seem to have landed on either Moreton 

 or Stradbrooke. His experiences with the aboriginals were 

 obtained at Bribie. 



It was not till about twenty-two years afterwards that the 

 men of Stradbrooke made the acquaintance of the race which 

 was to supplant them. The occurrence which then took place 

 stands very much to their credit. Four men in an open boat 

 were blown to sea from the neighbourhood of Illawarra, or the 

 Five Islands, in New South Wales. After behig adrift for twenty- 

 one days they were wrecked on Stradbrooke, near the South 

 Passage. One had died from thirst and exposure, but the other 

 three— Pamphlett, Finnigan, and another— were well received 

 by the blacks, and kindly treated. They were hunted and 

 fished for, and duly painted, etc., when their clothes (probably a 

 poor supply) ran short. 



Very strangely, they were under the impression that they 

 were still to the south of Sydney, and with this idea persuaded 

 their new friends after some time, to help them northward. 

 They were rescued by Oxley about two years afterwards when he 

 made a landing in the neighbourhood of Redclifle in 1823. 



The blacks used to call ship's biscuits " Five Islands," 

 which I have always understood to refer to tliis occurrence. 

 Pamphlett and his companions having a few with them, the 

 name Five Islands from which they were blown became attached 

 in some way to the biscuits. 



Oxley returned next year in the brig " Amity " to establish a 

 permanent settlement (hence the name Amity Point for the 

 north-west point of Stradbrooke) 



