The evolution of Jumpinpin Inlet - OzCoasts

The evolution of Jumpinpin Inlet
Figure 7.1. Captain Cook’s chart of the coastline from Mt Warning to
Wide Bay, 1770 (Source: Covacevich et al., 1984)
In the same volume, Welsby presents contradictory information to that above. He
states that in the third volume of Cook’s voyages (published in 1773) Cook writes:
“…to which I give the name of Point Lookout. On the northern side of this point forms
a wide open bay” (Thomson, 1967b p.35). From this we learn that Moreton Bay was
named by Cook, given from the ocean when looking through an opening between
Moreton and Stradbroke islands. However, it is possible Cook was deceived by the
distant coastal bay formed between Moreton and Stradbroke islands due to the
curvature of the coast.
Flinders’ voyage in 1799 verified that Moreton and Stradbroke islands were separated
by a narrow channel. He wrote of the entrance: “It was small and formed by two
sandy points” (Thomson, 1967a, p. 21). Flinders was the first European to sail into the
bay, gaining access north of Moreton Island. Flinders wrote that he went 34 miles
south from Cape Moreton on the inside of the bay (in Thomson, 1967b), and from this
he must have gone some distance past Coochie Island. Examination of Flinders’ chart
(Figure 7.2) shows that he recorded Moreton Island as a distinct island, but between
Point Lookout and Point Danger there is an unbroken line of coast, so there may have
been no break in those days at Southport (or Jumpinpin). Local history confirms the
presence of South Passage around this time. An old native woman is recorded saying
to Welsby in 1910 that she had been told by her parents that tribes could converse
across the passage between Moreton and Stradbroke (Thomson, 1967a).
Further exploration of the bay was conducted by John Oxley. In 1823 Oxley noted:
“We have discovered that the land of Point Lookout is an Island, and that Moreton
Bay expands as far south as latitude 28'S, where it communicates with the sea by a
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