South Molle Island - Culture and History

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This was published 15 years ago

South Molle Island - Culture and History

The island was known to the local Aborigines who called it Whyrriba which some sources say meant 'stone axe'. Certainly it appears that mainland Aborigines used to come to the island to quarry the hard stone which they used in their weapons.

The first European to explore the area was Captain James Cook who travelled through the area on his journey up the eastern coast of Australia in 1770. He passed through Whitsunday passage, a narrow channel which lies between the mainland coast, South Molle and Daydream Islands to the west and Dent, Whitsunday, Hook and Hayman Islands to the east, on Sunday 4 June which happened to be Whit Sunday (the seventh Sunday after easter) - hence the name of the area.

In 1815 Lieutenant Charles Jefferys named it Molle Island after Colonel George James Molle who, at the time, was Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. By the 1840s the name 'Molle' was being used for a number of small islands in the area. There was Molle (now South Molle), North Molle, Mid Molle and West Molle (now Daydream).

Around this time mainland graziers started to use the island for sheep and cattle grazing. By 1883 an official 5 year pastoral lease at £15 per year was taken out by D. Gordon. The island group then passed through numerous hands.

Today South Molle Island boasts facilities for over 600 guests and provides the usual range of Whitsunday activities from golf, tennis and squash to bushwalking, scuba diving, cycling and just lazing on the beaches.

The National Park areas of the island have graded walking trails to facilitate easy access to the more remote areas of the island. The island, which is hilly and has a lot of small bays and inlets, is ideal for walking.


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