Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Quail Island - a history and its Koalas

Quail Island is situated at the northern end of Western Port Bay across Rutherford Inlet from Warneet. The Island was  surveyed by Francis Barrallier, a member of the crew on the Lady Nelson under Lieutenant James Grant. The Lady Nelson entered Western Port Bay on March 21, 1801. Barrallier originally named Quail Island,  Harris Island, after Surgeon John Harris who was a Magistrate and member of the New South Wales Corps. (1).  The following is a chronological history of settlement and events on Quail Island, based mainly on newspaper reports.


 Quail Island on the left;  Chinaman Island in the centre under the Warneet township. 
Quail and Chinaman Islands are separated by Rutherford Inlet or Creek.  
Cannons Creek is at the top of the photo. 
Aerial  dated October 19, 1986. Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries

At some time, Harris Island was re-named to Quail Island, named due to the number of quail on the island. This story about the quail, was published in The Australasian in May 1870. The writer had taken a hunting trip to Western Port Bay, and when they arrived at Quail Island, he was told that a certain employé of the lessees of the island, a shepherd or stock keeper probably, once took to rearing a vast number of quail there. They were his hobby, and at first he fed and petted them just like so many tame chickens, till their numbers grew beyond him. One fell day there landed couple of "sportsmen" upon this chosen spot, and when they left it no fewer than 150 brace of the petted and doubtless well-conditioned quail left with them. (2). 

Peggy Banks in her book Crouch's Beach, from camp to coastal village, Warneet explains the origin of the name of Chinaman Island -
We were told that many years ago some Chinese fishermen lived and fished there, fishing for the type of fish eaten by the Chinese. They dried them and sent them to China. were said to live on this island and they fished for the type of fish eaten by the Chinese, dried them and sent them to China. Whether this is true, I cannot say but the naming of the island seems to confirm the story. My brother thinks that it was once called Snake Island but I have not yet found any evidence (3). 

Quail Island was originally used as a pastoral run - one of the earlier lease holders appears to be James Wheatley, and possibly Henry Greer, as the following legal notice appeared in The Age of May 25, 1864.


Supreme Court case over Quail Island
The Age,  May 25, 1864 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155012013

I presume that in the end James Wheatley retained the lease, as in August 1864 it was reported that at a meeting of the Acclimatisation Society - a letter from Mr Wheatley was read, offering the use
of a portion of Quail Island, of which he is the lessee, but it was decided to take no steps with regard to this offer for the present. (4). The Acclimatisation  Society was established in Victoria on February 25, 1861. The object of this Society was the introduction, acclimatisation, and domestication of all innoxious animals, birds, fishes insects, and vegetables, whether useful or ornamental ; - the perfection, propagation and hybridisation of races newly introduced or already domesticated; - the spread of indigenous animals, &c. from parts of the colonies where they are already known, to other localities where they are not known. (5). Even though the Society did not accept James Wheatley's offer in 1864, they  had already made inroads into Western Port as by August 1861 they had already introduced at Philip Island, 5 pheasants, 6 skylarks, 4 thrushes, 4 blackbirds. At Sandstone and Churchill Islands, 4 pheasants, 4 skylarks, 4 thrushes. (6).

In November 1865, The Argus published this story about Quail Island, which fortunately for Mrs Fordham the lady involved, had a happy ending. She may have been the housekeeper for James Wheatley - 
Last Friday, about two o'clock in the afternoon, while Mr. M'Hugh was surveying the creeks in Western Port, at the back of Quail Island, he heard a faint noise, something like an effort at a "cooey!" Looking in the direction of the sound, he discovered a female form waving something as a signal of distress; he made directly for the spot, and sent a couple of men on shore to ascertain what was wrong, when a poor woman was discovered in a helpless state from hunger, exposure, and thirst, lying down in a swampy place, among the mangroves, cold and wet. After discovering the state she was in, and where she belonged to, Mr. M'Hugh had her brought on board at once and conveyed to Quail Island station, and handed over to the proprietors. She is housekeeper in the above establishment, and had occasion to go to Cranbourne on Monday last, when, on returning on Wednesday, after having reached the island, she lost the track, and, being short-sighted, could not find it again, so she wandered about as long as she was able, until she became exhausted, having neither food nor water. At last she laid herself down in the scrub, where she was discovered after being three nights in the open air. On hearing human voices and the splash of oars she made one desperate effort, and succeeded in making herself heard and seen, but from the exhausted state she was found in, she would probably not have survived another night, and she was saved by the will of Providence, for the place is quite unfrequented, being among lofty mangroves. The poor woman's name is Fordham; she is a widow, and is a very respectable and industrious person. (7).

The following notice appeared in the Victoria Government Gazette of April 24, 1866, that Quail Island was temporarily reserved for Acclimatization purposes.

Reservation of Quail Island 
Victoria Government Gazette, April 24, 1866, p. 896. 

The Acclimatisation Society this time made use of the Island and at a meeting in August 1867, the Secretary could report that nine black Indian partridges and seven Cape partridges had been sent down to Quail Island, for liberation. (8)

In September 1866, James Watson, who later became the President of the Royal Australian Historical Society, visited Quail Island to help with sheep dipping. Whilst he was there he released ten pairs of rabbits on the Island. The rabbits had been obtained from Thomas Austin, of Barwon Park, the man 'credited' with introducing the rabbit into Australia.  This is Watson's description of Quail Island - 
As the shores of the inlet at the crossing-place are low flats and treacherous to walk on, a thick track of tea-tree had been laid, so that the horses got safely to a sapling bridge that connected the island to the mainland. The total acreage was about 1,500 acres of flat open land on the south and timbered low hills on the north, with two good-sized water-holes or lagoons, which were the haunt of water-fowl and ducks. Mud flats lay all round the shore, covered with mangrove. On this most unsuitable place were about 800 or 900 ewes, with a fair percentage of lambs, and 300 wethers....that the island was a most unsuitable place; this was so, because the flat damp ground on the shores gave the sheep foot-rot, and great numbers of them had to be treated for that before being "dressed" and dipped. (9)  You can read Watson's  interesting account, here.

In July 1868, Quail Island was offered for sale. The size of the island was listed as 4,000 acres, more than double the size it was listed as in the 1864 legal notice, above.  The Island is described as -
It comprises about 4000 acres of good, sound, open country, well watered by three permanent lagoons, and is adapted for stock, sheep having thriven well there. The island is connected with the main land by a bridge, and is only 40 miles from town. There is a good three roomed house and sheep-yards. (10)


Sale of Quail Island

This advertisement (above) regarding the sale of Quail Island give us some idea of development on Quail Island - a three roomed house and connected to the main land by a bridge, as described by Watson, above.  You can see one of the 'permanent lagoons' or dams in the aerial photo at the top of the post. In January 1898,there were bushfires all throughout Victoria and the area between Tooradin, Frankston and Cranbourne was swept absolutely clean (11).  Thousands of pasture was destroyed and miles of fences and much livestock. (12) Quail Island was also burnt and whether the house on the Island survived this fire, I cannot say.

I found another interesting article which mentioned Quail Island. In September 1890 a report into the drainage of Melbourne and disposal of sewerage was tabled in the Victorian Parliament. On the subject of sewerage disposal, the report looked at locations for an ocean outfall. I have reproduced the section in full, and we should all be grateful that Rutherford Creek (Inlet) proved to be unsuitable. 
Western Port Outfall - This spot was the upper part of Western Port, near Quail Island. It is only half the distance between Cape Schanck and the city, and it was clearly a point of outfall which I was bound to consider carefully. I have worked out the fact that mean low water of the cycle of tides at the head of Rutherford's Creek, in Western Port, was 1.29 feet lower than the Melbourne datum, and that mean high water was 5.28 feet above that datum, showing a mean rise of 6.57 fact as against only about 2.5 feet in Port Phillip Bay. With such rises and falls the tidal currents must be more rapid than those in Port Phillip Bay, and in order to test them I had a series of float experiments made. From these observations it is manifest that if crude sewerage were discharged at the head of Rutherford's Creek at all states of the tide the great bulk of the suspended solids would never get out to sea at all, but would be washed ashore and deposited on the mud flats north of French Island. Sewage put into the main channel a mile south of Quail Island, just after high water of a spring tide, would only travel less than 10 miles seawards before it would be met by the rising tide, and would then return on its tracks. It would seem as if the flood and ebb tide should practically balance each other, and, except as influenced by winds, that there should be but very slight seaward travel of floating matters. If the whole of the shores of Western Port and its islands were to be disappropriated, and for ever remain unsettled and unoccupied, there might be some justification for selecting Rutherford's Creek as the point of outfall for the untreated crude sewage of Melbourne, but under no other conditions could it, in my opinion, be utilised for this purpose. (13)

I have traced the leasehold holders of Quail Island, through the Cranbourne Shire Rate Books; it was part of the Parish of Sherwood. The first time I could see Quail island itemised separately in the Rate Books was in the 1874/75 year with Edward Blurton being the lease-holder; the next year John Halstead had taken over. I have no other information about Blurton or Halstead. After Halstead, in 1876/77 Alexander McLean Hunter was listed. Hunter also had the Balla Balla run, on Rutherford Inlet at the north end of Western Port from May 1872.  Alexander Hunter had Quail Island until 1884/85. The rights to the Island were advertised for sale in September 1878 (see advertisement below), but I don't understand how that fits with the fact that Hunter seemingly already had the rights.

\
Sale of Quail island
The Argus, September 19, 1878 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5949005

Alexander Hunter was also involved in other properties as his 1893 obituary notes - 
The name will invoke in many old colonists still living recollections of stirring days in early Melbourne. In the early Forties the five Hunters were well known both in connection with pastoral pursuits and as daring and successful gentleman riders, for in steeplechasing they had no rivals in their day; and the remarkable spectacle has at times been afforded of all five riders in the same race over the Flemington course, when the grand-stand was built close down by the river side. With the five brothers of whom Mr. Alexander Mclean Hunter was one, there came out also their two cousins, John and Campbell. The names of the five brothers were Aleck, James, John, Frank, and William, their father being a well-known writer to the Signet, in Edinburgh, and one of an old Scottish family with whom sport was a tradition. They came to Victoria in connection with the firm of Watson and Hunter, the latter being uncle of the five brothers and father of the other two already mentioned. Messrs. Watson and Hunter, came to Victoria as agents for a Scottish company, with which the Marquis of Ailsa and other noblemen were connected, to buy up squatting, agricultural, and city properties, and gradually acquired a wide extent of country in different parts of the city and country. (14)

After Alexander Hunter, the Rate books show that Donald Tolmie is listed as the leaseholder of Quail Island from  1885/86 until 1887/88. In May 1885, Tolmie purchased the 1876 acre Balla Balla property from Alexander Hunter. 


Sale of Balla Balla
The Argus, May 30 1885 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6081053

From 1888/89, Charles De Arth (also called De Ath) is in the Rate Books occupying Quail Island until 1899/1900, the next year his name is crossed out and in July 1901 this notice (see below) appeared in South Bourke and Mornington Journal, reporting on the proceeding of the Cranbourne Police Court. 
De Arth was a retired sea captain. (15).


Court case involving Charles DeArth
 South Bourke and Mornington Journal, July 3, 1901 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70047452

After De Arth, James Ridley had the Quail Island lease from 1901/02 until 1912/13; Ridley also had land at Pearcedale; he was the manager of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank at North Melbourne. (16). Then Francis Callanan took it over. By then it was listed as 2000 acres although it had been variously listed as being of 3,000 or 4,000 acres - perhaps by this time they could accurately measure the island. Callanan was at the island until 1915/16 when the Rate Books have the annotation 'Abandon' and 'Reverted to the Crown.' Frank Callanan was a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1905 until 1918. His grandfather, James Smith Adams had the Balla Balla property from 1854 until Alexander Hunter purchased it. His mother, Margaret Adams, had  married Michael Callanan, who was the Victorian Surveyor General; they also had the 1,200 acre Coolebah property at Pearcedale. (17).

In 1909, Quail Island was inspected by the Minister for Lands, Mr McKenzie. The Argus reported -
After visiting Quail Island, at Westernport Bay, this week, the Minister for Lands (Mr. M'Kenzie) is convinced that the place is suitable for the establishment of a labour colony, to replace the existing farm for unemployed which is conducted at Leongatha. The land occupied by the present farm at the latter place is considered to be too valuable for its present use, and Mr. M'Kenzie considers that the colony could be conducted satisfactorily upon the poorer land at Quail Island, leaving the Leongatha property available for more important purposes. There are 2,000 acres of land on Quail Island, and plenty of timber. The place can be reached along a narrow neck of land, which is partly submerged at high tide, and Mr. M'Kenzie says an embanked road could be constructed along this neck at a small cost. The climate is good, and there will be no difficulty in obtaining water. Quail Island is nine miles from Cranbourne railway station. (18)

The Labour Colony did not go ahead and after Francis Callanan abandoned the Quail Island lease I can find no other lease holders so I presume that it was unoccupied. In March 1928 it was proclaimed a 'Sanctuary for native game.' (19) 

Quail Island proclaimed a Sanctuary
Victoria Government Gazette, March 21, 1928, p. 1041
https://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1928/V/general/45.pdf 

The next time we hear of Quail Island is when koalas were transferred there from French Island. The Argus of January 15, 1930 reported that -
The transference of koalas, popularly known as "native bears," from French Island to the small Quail Island, in accordance with a promise made by the Fisheries and Game department to the residents of French Island has begun. In the weekend many families of koalas were captured also transferred in boats over the five-mile strait between the two islands. On their new sites there are large thickets of manna gums, which will provide them with their favourite food. The residents of French Island complained that the koalas were present in such numbers that they denuded every gum tree within their
reach, and they asked for permission to thin them out by shooting, or alternatively to have them removed from the island. As the koala is rigorously protected all the year round in Victoria, the second alternative was chosen, and on their new island where there is no settlement , they will remain unmolested. (20)

Two years later, The Herald in May 1932 also spoke about the koalas being removed, thus the process of removal to Quail Island and neighbouring Chinaman Island was still taking place. This article talks about Mr R.H. Bennetts, from the Department of Fisheries and Game as the welfare officer for the little migrants (21) so this must be the same R. Bennetts who took the two photographs, below.


Koalas being placed in boxes to be transported from French Island to Quail Island, 1930.
Photographer: R. Bennetts


Another photo taken at the same time by, Mr Bennetts, of the koalas and the boxes they were transported in from French to Quail Island.

In April 1933, The Age reported that -
Recommendations have been made by the Fisheries and Game department that a further 150 to 200 koalas should be transferred from French Island to Quail Island, in addition to the 200 transferred in the past two years. It was explained yesterday that the manna gums on the south and south-west portions of French Island were infested with blight, and insect pests, and the food supply for the koalas was proving inadequate. Quail Island, with an area of 3000 acres, offered a satisfactory area and sanctuary the animals. (22)

In June 1933,  Mr F. Lewis, the Chief Inspector of Fisheries and Game was confident that transferring the koalas to Quail Island had been fully justified. He had never seen koalas anywhere looking healthier than those on Quail Island. Mr Lewis added that the transfer had been made in pursuance of the department's policy of distributing the bears over the islands of Westernport Bay. He believed that ultimately through bush fires, shooting and general interference the koalas on the mainland would disappear, but it was hoped to preserve them on the islands. It was estimated that there were only 1,000 bears in Victoria. (23)

However, fast forward ten years to 1943 and there were various conflicting reports and letters in the papers about the health of the koalas on Quail Island - they were either starving due to lack of feed or else they were in a state of good health. (24)  

In March 1944, The Age reported the Chief inspector of Fisheries and Game (Mr. Lewis) has recommended the transfer of a number of koalas from Phillip, Quail and Chinaman islands in the coming months. (25).  The next month The Herald could announce that the transfer of 700 koalas without any casualty from Phillip, Quail and Chinaman Islands to safer areas on the mainland was completed last week after a three weeks rush job by a big staff of employes of the Fisheries and Game Department, the Chief Inspector (Mr F. Lewis) said today.... The bears new homes were at Daylesford, Mount Alexander, Creswick, Strathbogie, Rufly, Trentham, Kyneton, Coranderrk and Buchan, the last four being new reserves for the animals. The Kyneton site was part of the Black Hill reserve and that at Trentham part of the Wombat Forest. (26) 

There is an interesting film on YouTube, Koalas removed from Quail Island, filmed around 1944, about the removal of the koalas to a site near Trentham. You can view it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IEhbC6M7EA


Koala in crate which is being transferred from French Island to Quail Island
Argus newspaper collection of photographs, State Library of Victoria Image H2004.100/1011

It appears that there were still Koalas on Quail Island in the 1950s  (27) and in August 1960 the Regulations for the care, protection and management at the Chinaman Island and Quail Island Koala Reserves  was gazetted, so presumably there must have been some koalas to protect. (28)  Are there still Koalas on the Island?


Regulations for Quail and Chinaman Islands
Victoria Government Gazette, August 24, 1960, p. 2890

There was talk in the early 1960s of turning Quail Island into a jetport but, as we know, that never happened. 


Quail Island to be a  jetport
The Age,  July 6, 1962 p. 9 from Newspapers.som


This map shows Quail Island; Watson Inlet to the east of the island and Rutherford Inlet to the west. The towns of Hastings, Tyabb, Somerville, Pearcedale and Tooradin are shown clock-wise from bottom left. South of Quail island is French Island and just north of French Island is Barrillier Island, named for the surveyor from the Lady Nelson.
Image cropped from  - Australia 1:126,720. Sheet J55N, I & II. Victoria, Berwick prepared by Australian Section, Imperial General Staff; surveyed in 1920 by Survey Section, R.A.E.
State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/115229 

Quail Island is now a Nature Conservation Reserve and some of the waters around it are part of the Yaringa Marine National Park. Quail Island and Watson Inlet are also of State Geomorphological Significance - you can read about this, here on the Victorian Resources Online (VRO) website. The VRO is is no longer being updated and is now archived. This is what it says  -
Geology/Geomorphology: Watson inlet is funnel-shaped with a main central tidal drainage system and many small tributary tidal creeks. The entire inlet is mangrove fringed and landward of this is a wide salt marsh zone. There is a tidal watershed at the head of the tidal creeks linking Watson Inlet and Rutherford Inlet north of Quail Island. Quail Island preserves an undisturbed topography developed on Cranbourne Sands, with important examples of the associated inter-dune swamps and lakes. There are relict sandy spits and beaches behind a broad mangrove fringe. On the eastern shore of the island, opposite the Warneet jetty, erosion of the edge of the salt marsh exposes a former gravel beach resting on the eroded surface of the Warneet Beds.
Significance: State. This is the least disturbed mangrove and salt marsh area on the mainland shore of Westernport Bay. It is a major site in Victoria to study the nature of sedimentation in a mangrove environment and the role of the mangroves in prompting sediment accumulation. The area of Cranbourne Sands topography is one of the largest of these areas left undisturbed in the Westernport region. The relict sandy spits are of similar significance to that described at Bungower Point (Site 79) [near Hastings] (29)

I wonder how many Quail are still on the island and if they are the descendants of the ones that a shepherd or stock keeper probably, once took to rearing on the Island. (30)

Trove List - I have created a list of newspaper articles connected to Quail Island, on Trove, you can access the list, here.

Footnotes
(1) Cole, Valda Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: Exploration to Settlement (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984)
(2) The Australasian, May 14, 1870, see here.
(3) Banks, Peggy Crouch's Beach , from camp to coastal village, Warneet (The Author, 1995) p. 36.
(4) The Age, August 11, 1864, see here.
(5) The Argus, February 26, 1861, see here.
(6) Victorian Farmers Journal, August 10, 1861, see here.
(7) The Argus, November 1, 1865, see here.
(8) The Age, August 14, 1867,  see here.
(9) Watson, James Personal Recollections of Melbourne in the 'Sixties. This was a look at various events and activities of the 1860s including this story - Dipping Sheep on Quail Island. The story was published in the Victorian Historical Magazine, v. 12, June 1928 available on-line at the State Library of Victoria. See more here.
(10) The Argus July 7, 1868, see here.  
(11) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Shire of Cranbourne, 1968), p.171
(12) Reports of the fire - The Age, February 1, 1898, see here; The Argus, February 2, 1898,  see here.
(13) The Age, September 24, 1890, see here
(14) The Argus, January 6, 1893, see here.
(15) Gunson, op. cit., p. 121.
(16) The Age, February 1, 1898, see here
(17) Gunson, op. cit; Margaret Callanan's obituary - Mornington Standard, January 27, 1917, see here.
(18) The Argus, May 29, 1909,  see here.
(19) Victoria Government Gazette, March 21, 1928, p. 1041, see here.
(20) The Argus, January 15, 1930, see here.
(21) The Herald, May 26, 1932, see here.
(22) The Age, April 26, 1933,  see here.
(23) The Argus, June 10, 1933, see here.
(24) See articles in my Trove list, here.
(25) The Age, March 1, 1944, see here.
(26) The Herald, April 24, 1944,  see here.
(27) The Age, May 10, 1952, see here.
(28) Victoria Government Gazette, August 24, 1960, p. 2890, see here.
(30) The Australasian, May 14, 1870, see here.


This is an improved and expanded  version of a post, which I wrote and researched, which appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past.

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