SHIRE HANDBOOK CABOOLTURE QUEENSLAND DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES LIMITED DISTRIBUTION - GOV'T.i 1NSTRUHENTALITY OFFICERS ONLY CABOOLTURE SHIRE HANDBOOK compiled by G. J. Lukey, Dipl. Trop. Agric (Deventer) Queensland Department of Primary Industries October 1973. The material in this publication is intended for government and institutional use only, and is not to be used in any court of law. 11 FOREWORD A detailed knowledge and understanding of the environment and the pressures its many facets may exert are fundamental to those who work to improve agriculture, or to conserve or develop the rural environment. A vast amount of information is accumulating concerning the physical resources and the farming and social systems as they exist in the state of Queensland. This information is coming from a number of sources and references and is scattered through numerous publications and unpublished reports. Shire Handbooks, the first of which was published in February 1969, are an attempt to collate under one cover relevant information and references which will be helpful to the extension officer, the research and survey officer or those who are interested in industry or regional planning or in reconstruction. A copy of each shire handbook is held for reference in each Division and in each Branch of the Department of Primary Industries in Brisbane. In addition Agriculture Branch holds at its Head Office and in each of its country centres, Shire Handbooks, Regional Technical Handbooks (notes on technical matters relevant to certain agricultural industries in the Shire) and monthly and annual reports which are a continuing record of the progress and problems in agriculture. It is suggested that the 3 sets of records are essential background material for the professional agriculturalist. It is intended that the Handbook for each Shire should be reviewed and updated for republication every fifth year. Mr. G. J. Lukey, Adviser with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, has collated data and assembled material for this Handbook. The assistance provided by officers of this and other Departments both State and Federal is gratefully acknowledged. Miss Diana Beal, B. Econ. B. Com has edited the material for publication. N.F. Fox DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE Ill CONTENTS Section 1. Introduction 1.01 Location 1.02 Exploration and Settlement 1.03 Topography 1.04 Geology 2. Climate 2.01 Preamble 2.02 Rainfall 2.03 Temperature and Frost 2.04 Relative Humidity 2.05 Cloudiness and Sunshine Hours 2.06 Evaporation 2.07 Winds 2.08 Climate in relation to pastoral, crop and forestry enterprises 3. Hydrology 3.01 Hydrology - General 3.02 Surface Supplies 3.03 Underground Supplies 3.04 Irrigation 3.05 Future Irrigation Development 4. Soils 4.01 Soil Types 4.02 Soil Conservation 4.03 Areas available for Pastoral and Agricultural Development 5. Vegetation & Fauna 5.01 Vegetation 5.02 Fauna 6. Farming Systems and Practices 6.01 Land Tenure 6.02 Land Valuation 6.03 Tobacco 6.04 Fruit and Vegetable Cropping 6.05 Dairying 6.06 Beef Cattle 6.07 Poultry 6.08 Pigs IV Section 7. Crop, Pasture and Animal Performance 7.01 Crops 7.02 Pastures 7.03 Animals 8. Register of Research Projects 8.01 Pastures 8.02 Dairying 8.03 Horticulture 8.04 Agriculture 8.05 Fisheries 8.06 Cattle Ticks 9. Other Primary Industries 9.01 Forestry 9.02 Mining 9.03 Fishery 9.04 Beekeeping 10. Shire IStatistics 10.01 Primary Production - Holdings and Enterprises 10.02 Demography 10.03 Transport Services 10.04 Secondary Industries 10.05 Tertiary Services 10.06 Community Services 10.07 Associations and Societies 10.08 State Services to Primary Producers 11. Economics 11.01 Introduction 11.02 Fodder Crops 11.03 Pastures 11.04 Dairying 11.05 Beef 11.06 Pigs 11.07 Poultry 11.08 Horticulture - Fruit and Vegetables 11.09 Tobacco 12. Primary Producers (Rural Landholders) in the Shire. Bibliography - References Acknowledgements Maps Map 1 Location Section 1 Map 2 Geology Section 1 Map 3 Streams Section 1 Map 4 Reserves Section 5 1-1 Section 1. INTRODUCTION 1. 01 Location: The Caboolture Shire covers an area of 1220km2. The Shire area lies between latitudes 26°48'S and 27°14'S, and longtitudes 152°40'E and 153°13'E. The Caboolture township is at a distance of about 50 km north of Brisbane. The Shire is bounded on the east by Deception and Moreton Bays and the South Pacific Ocean along Bribie Island. On the west the Shire is bounded by Neurum and Mary Smokes Creeks. On the north-west the Shire boundary overlaps the Conondale Range, which is part of the Blackall Range, near Bellthorpe over a width of approximately 10 km. The boundary then runs in a south-easterly direction to the D'Aguilar Range and then follows this range to a point 10 km south of Mt. Beerwah. The boundary then runs in easterly direclion passing approximately 1 km south of Beerburrum, crossing Pumicestone Channel and the northern half of Bribie Island. On the south the Shire boundary runs from Deception Bay township in a westerly direction to approximately 3 km north-east of Dayboro from where it continues north-west to Mt. Mee. South of Mt. Mee the boundary crosses the D'Aguilar Range and continues in westerly direction to join up with the boundary along Neurum Creek. 1. 02 Exploration and Settlement: The earliest exploration in the present Caboolture Shire area was by Captain Matthew Flinders in the sloop "Norfolk" on the 16th July, 1799, when he landed on the southern tip of the island now called Bribie. This landing place Captain Flinders called Skirmish Point following a brief skirmish with some of the Aborigines in that area. There appears to be strong evidence that the historic landing of Capt. Flinders and the subsequ- ent skirmish took place on the inside part of the island, marked on present day maps as South Point, and not on the ocean side of the island. Flinders' own chart indicates the original location of Skirmish Point, which is confirmed by the report of John Oxley on his exploration in the area in 1823, and is also marked as such on the first original map of the Colony of Queensland. (Ref. Collected works of Thomas Welsby - Vol. II). Captain M. Flinders explored part of Pumicestone Channel, or River as he thought it was, and beached his sloop for repairs at a point now known as the White Patch or Tarranggiri. This is on the Bribio side of Pumicestone Channel opposite Toorbul. The aboriginal name for Bribie Island was apparently "Yaroon" or "Yarun", as recorded by John Dunmore Lang, in his book "Queensland - Australia", 1861. Tom Petrie states "Yirin" to be the aboriginal name for mudcrab. Captain Flinders found well-constructed aboriginal huts, measuring 3-4 m long on the island. 1-2 Apart from cannibalism which appeared to be common to the aboriginals in this area, mudcrabs and sea mullet were an important source of food, as well as oysters, dugong and turtle. Mullet was caught in a type of seine net. The island was inhabited by the "Joondoburrie" or "Joondoobarrie people. The last member of this tribe was a woman by the name of Kalma- kuta, was passed away in 1897 and was buried near Toorbul Pt. A memorial carrying a plaque donated by Mr. Petrie was erected by the Caboolture Historical Society at the site in honour of Kalma-kuta and the Joondoobarrie people. Ancient Bora grounds in the form of a large and a smaller ring, used for aboriginal ceremonies are located 2 km west of the Memorial on the road to Godwin's Beach. The mainland area between Toorbul and Toorbul Pt. was inhabited by the Ninghi Ninghi (oyster) aboriginals. On the 26th July 1799, Capt. Matthew Flinders accompanied by Bongaree an aboriginal from the Sydney area and two sailors explored the land west of Pumicestone Channel and climbed Mt. Beerburrum, which is Just north of the present Shire boundary. In January 1822 Captain John Bingle on the cutter "Sally" appears to have been in the Bribie area as part of his commission to survey the Eastern Coast. Richard Parsons, Thomas Pamphlet and John Finnegan were the next white men to arrive in the Toorbul-Bribie area. On the 21st March 1823, these three men left Sydney in an open sailing boat in search of cedar, for a group of islands 50 miles south of Port Jackson. A violent gale drove them out to sea and finally they were shipwrecked on Moreton Island. Imagining themselves still south of Sydney the three men crossed the southern part of Moreton Bay to reach the mainland and commenced to walk northwards along the coast. On approximately the 14th June 1823 they reached the southern bank of the present Brisbane River After some difficulties crossing this river they continued northwards via Redcliffe peninsula and finally reached the Toorbul area where they lived with the aboriginals for approximately four months. John Oxley, Surveyor-General to the Government of New South Wales, on the cutter "Mermaid" anchored off Skirmish Point on the 29th day of November, 1823 and gound the two men Pamphlet and Finnegan living ashore with the aboriginals. Parsons had continued northwards and apparently lived for two years with aboriginals in the Mary River region before returning South. John Oxley's journey north of Sydney was to survey suitable locations for convict penal establishments. On learning of the existence of a large river to the south John Oxley set out with Finnegan and on the 2nd and 3rd December 1823 explored a considerable part of the present Brisbane River which he named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales.