Addresses
Type of place
Monument / memorial
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
John Oxley Memorial Stone, Unknown Pioneers Monument & Riverside Expressway Opening Plaque
This is an image of the John Oxley Memorial Stone - part of the local heritage place known as John Oxley Memorial Stone, Unknown Pioneers Monument & Riverside Expressway Opening Plaque
This is an image of the Riverside Expressway Opening Plaque - part of the local heritage place known as John Oxley Memorial Stone, Unknown Pioneers Monument & Riverside Expressway Opening Plaque
John Oxley Memorial Stone, Unknown Pioneers Monument & Riverside Expressway Opening Plaque
Addresses
Type of place
Monument / memorial
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
The John Oxley Memorial was erected in September 1924 to commemorate the centenary of the establishment of the Moreton Bay penal colony in 1824. Its site, evidently based on information available at the time, was the subject of dispute in the latter half of the twentieth century. In late August, early September 1824 John Oxley (Surveyor General) had set forth from Sydney on the brig “Amity” with convicts, stores and guards and the Commandant of the new Moreton Bay penal settlement, Lieutenant Miller, to establish a site for the colony. They established the penal settlement at Redcliffe on 12 September 1824 and soon afterwards Oxley sailed to further explore the Brisbane River. Historians and surveyors agree that Oxley’s landing places in 1824 were some considerable distance from the present Central Business District.
Lot plan
L533_SP231897; L644_SP231897; L13_SP180753; L12_SP180752
Geolocation
-27.46763 153.017568
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Information —
Interactive mapping
Lot plan
L533_SP231897; L644_SP231897; L13_SP180753; L12_SP180752
Geolocation
-27.46763 153.017568
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Information —
Interactive mapping
History
Historian John Steele in Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830 (pub.1972) examined Oxley’s diaries in detail and identified Oxley’s two landing places as likely to have been (1) 16 Sept 1824 near Breakfast Creek and (2) 27 Sept 1824 Moorlands Park, Toowong - stopping to look for water on 28 Sept near Milton Park on Western Creek adjacent to the old Milton Tennis Court site. Steele believes it was about this second site that Oxley wrote “…by no means an ineligible station for a first settlement up the river.” In 1988 the Institution of Surveyors, Australia (Queensland Division) published In the steps of our forefathers - Surveyor Explorers: Their Role in the Opening up of Queensland, and in examining the issue of the incorrectly located memorial, concurred with Steele’s account.
On 9 November 1824, after returning to Sydney, the “Amity” again sailed north with Captain Macarthur, Governor Brisbane, Oxley, Finnegan and Sir Francis Forbes to assess new sites for the settlement. The party agreed to move the settlement and Governor Brisbane endorsed Oxley’s recommendation of the landing site at Breakfast Creek as the new site (Location 1). Lieutenant Miller received instructions to move in April 1825 but seems to have taken it upon himself “to select a site near the present Victoria Bridge” in May 1825. (Steele Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824-1842, 1985 p.27)
References
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Heritage Unit files, Brisbane City Council
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JGG Steele Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824-1842, 1985
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JGG Steele Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824-1842, 1985 p.27
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Institution of Surveyors, Australia (Queensland Division) published In the steps of our forefathers - Surveyor Explorers: Their Role in the Opening up of Queensland, 1988
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JGG Steele in Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, 1972
prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised March 2023)