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Shorncliffe

History of Brisbane's Shorncliffe

Shorncliffe's history has been compiled as a part of the BRISbites community history project.

Aboriginal history

The Jagera and Turrbal groups occupied land in the Brisbane and Ipswich areas. The exact boundaries are not known, however, the Turrbal generally occupied the area north of the Brisbane River. Both groups had closely related languages which are classified as belonging to the larger Yaggera language group. In Shorncliffe the Ningy-Ningy clan had displaced the Turrbal by the 1850s.

The area has a rich indigenous history. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation can be found in a bora ring at Nudgee Waterhole, and in sites of special importance at Dinah Island and by Aboriginal camps on the banks of the Cabbage Tree Creek.

Urban development

The surveyor James C. Burnett had mapped the locality by 1852 and Thomas Dowse purchased land near the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek in 1853. James Burnett marked the cliffs overlooking Bramble Bay as ‘Shorncliff" after the military installation of Shorncliffe in Kent. Thomas Dowse, a local entrepreneur, was keen to promote the area as a shipping centre to rival that of Brisbane and Cleveland.

The white settlers met with fierce Aboriginal resistance and poor communications hampered the suburb’s early development. The Sandgate/Shorncliffe area began development in the 1860s, particularly for those who could afford private transport and holiday residences. With the extension of the railway from Brisbane to Sandgate in 1882, the permanent population grew.

Notable residents

Laurie Jeays worked with others to hold a public meeting in 1985 to form the Bramble Bay Consultative Committee. The committee fought to save the Boondall Wetlands and to overturn a decision to dredge Cabbage Tree Creek to build a large marina and an eight-story building on the foreshore.

Until 1991 Shorncliffe was a locality name attached to Sandgate. Eva Stabler, a local schoolgirl, conducted a successful 18-month campaign to have Shorncliffe officially gazetted as a suburb by the Place Names Board.

Landmarks

Musgrave House faces Cabbage Tree Creek and was called the Lady Musgrave Sanitorium for Sick Children after its patron, Lady Lucinda Musgrave, wife of the Governor of Queensland. It was built in 1884 as a convalescent home for children and is also important because it was designed by a noted architect, Richard Gailey. Since 1939, Musgrave House has continuously operated as a boarding house for men.

The first Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race was held on 10 April 1949, and in 1963 the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club at Shorncliffe invited multihull yacht owners to participate in their annual 300 nautical mile event. Since then the race and the Club have become landmark features of the area.

Reference: BRISbites, 2000

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