Dunwich

Dunwich, known as Goompi by the Quandamooka people, is a small town and locality on the western side of North Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia.

Dunwich,known as Goompi by the Quandamooka people, is a small town and locality on the western side of North Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia. Dunwich is part of the Redland City local government area, administered from the bayside town of Cleveland on the Queensland mainland.In the 2016 census, Dunwich had a population of 864 people.Dunwich is one of three towns on North Stradbroke Island - the others being Amity Point and Point Lookout.

Originally known as Goompi and then renamed Green Point by the European settlers, the first settlement at Dunwich was established in 1827 as pilot station and military post. It was supposed to be a good place to discharge cargo from visiting ships that traveled through the South Passage. However cargo was lost in bad weather and local Aboriginals were hostile so the post was disbanded in 1831. Dunwich was named after the Suffolk village of Dunwich near to the Stradbroke Estate by Sir Ralph Darling on 16 July 1827, in honour of the family title (Viscount Dunwich) of the Earl of Stradbroke, father of Captain Henry John Rous RN, commander of HMS Rainbow, which carried Governor Darling to Moreton Bay and surveyed the immediate Dunwich area.In 1892 a leper colony was established at Dunwich; later this facility was closed and the lepers moved to the Peel Island lazaret. A quarantine station opened in 1850, although this was eventually moved to the more isolated St Helena Island in Moreton Bay. The station was converted into a nursing home for the elderly and infirmed, one of Queensland's first such facilities. The home was moved to Sandgate in 1946. The main cemetery on the island (Dunwich Cemetery) is found in this small town and contains the graves of over 10,000 people, most of which are unmarked. Other small cemeteries were established for the indigenous community and the leper colony.

Dunwich Post Office opened on 22 October 1896 (a receiving office had been open from 1885).In 1943, after the closure of the Myora Mission, some of the residents were moved to Dunwich; others went to One Mile.Some of the remaining buildings from the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum now form part of the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum, located in Welsby Street, Dunwich. The Dunwich Convict Causeway also remains, although it has been expanded to accommodate modern ships.The 'Aboriginal Gang' that worked the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum were the first Aboriginal people in Australia to receive equal wages. In 1944, after a 25 year campaign, the Aboriginal workers gained equal wages almost 20 years before anywhere else in Australia. The Asylum closed shortly after with the Aboriginal Gang only getting equal wages for one and a half years.In the 2011 census, Dunwich had a population of 883 people.