The first recorded contact of the aboriginal people with European people on NSI was in 1803 when Matthew Flinders and his crew stopped at Cylinder and Home Beaches to collect water.
In the mid 1800's European settlement of Minjerrabah and the inevitable integration occurred. A mission was established at Moongalba and the days of roaming and hunting ceased. A process of applying for permits controlled movements to and from Minjerribah. Traditional customs and practices were prohibited, but did not entirely disappear. Women and children would creep from the dormitories to sing, dance and tell stories, thus preserving the culture and maintaining the close connection with the land.
In 1827 the first ship of war entered Moreton Bay. This ship, a frigate Rainbow was under the command of the honourable Captain H. J. Rous. As a result of his recommendations the Island was named after Captain Rous' father the Earl of Stradbroke (UK), and the site of the convict settlement, established in 1827, was named after his elder brother, Viscount Dunwich. The settlement was established to handle cargo for the Brisbane penal colony as shoal across the Brisbane River prevented ships from reaching the colony. During this year convicts built the stone causeway near the Dunwich Jetty. Convict labour was also used to build a warehouse and accommodation barracks. Closure of the convict outstation was recommended in 1831. Over 10 years later Dunwich was the site of the first Catholic Church Mission for Aboriginal people in Australia. In 1843 four Fathers arrived to use the old convict outstation building for their missio0n. They were however disappointed by the dilapidated state of the building. This was another short lived venture. Three of the Fathers were recalled in 1846 and the fourth left the following year.
Dunwich was proclaimed a quarantine station in 1850, with all ships required to spend time in quarantine before being allowed to proceed up the river to Brisbane. In the same year the ship Emigrant arrived stricken with an epidemic of Typhus fever, which claimed 26 lives including the colonies surgeon general and the ship's surgeon. The graves of these people are marked in the Dunwich cemetery with white crosses. Officially the quarantine station was closed in1864 and relocated to Peel Island.
The Queensland Benevolent Institution was officially opened in1867 as a home for old and infirm paupers as well as some young people who were badly disabled. Later the institution also housed inebriates and the terminally ill. The mess hall was a brick building, which still stands and is now the Dunwich Public Hall. The hall could accommodate about 400 inmates in one sitting. The meals were served by inmate labour. The kitchen was almost 200 metres away from the mess hall and meals were often cold when they arrived at the table. In late 1846 the 768 inmates of the Queensland Benevolent Institution were relocated to the Eventide Home at Sandgate.
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