Bribie Island just north of Brisbane has a remarkable history, so preparing 3 exhibitions for the new Bribie Island Seaside Museum was a fascinating project for the ToadShow team.
Working for the Moreton Bay Regional Council with Maria Cleary Design and Tony Powell from Planet Productions, ToadShow prepared the exhibitions in a little over 3 months.
Although diverse in content, the exhibitions were crucially linked to Bribie:
- "More Than a Skirmish" about explorer Matthew Flinders first landing on Bribie Island
- "Fish and Fishing" including the important Amateur Fishermen's Association of Queensland Fish Collection
- "Fairweather" the extraordinary artist who made Bribie his home.
ToadShow director Robert Whyte said the project was very challenging not least because of the short timeframe.
"One of the biggest issues in the research and writing was separating fact from myth. All of the exhibitions are controversial to some degree. Even the origin of the name Bribie is subject to debate," Rob said.
The word Bribie derives from the local indigenous word for koala, yet many people believe there was once a convict named James Bribie, a basket maker who married a local Indigenous woman.
"The myth of Bribie the basket maker was invented by author Thomas Welsby. The story has been repeated by other writers but it's just not true," Rob said.
Matthew Flinders' landing on Bribie Island is also subject to debate. A misunderstanding between Flinders and the local people led to a 'skirmish' in which shots were fired.
"Flinders recorded the incident in his journal, but dropped all mention of it in later accounts of his journeys. He did not handle the situation very well and was probably embarrassed," Rob said.
In addition, the actual site of the skirmish seems unlikely to have occurred at the landmark Skirmish Point. In fact it probably occurred very close to the site of the museum at Bongaree.
The suburb Bongaree is named after Flinders' cultural liaison officer, Bongaree, an Indigenous leader from New South Wales.
