The spread of European settlement in coastal Queensland - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 47

1982, p95). Pastoral expansion continued and, in 1858, a third port was founded
at Rockhampton. Shortly after the separation of Queensland from New South
Wales, in 1859, a further coastal settlement was created at Port Denison (now
Bowen).
Bolton (1981, p10) has argued that pastoral expansion was strongly related
to exploration during that period. Exploration, including the expeditions by
Kennedy (in 1848) and by Dalrymple (in 1859), provided an indication of
available resources - in particular, identifying good pastoral areas - and squatters
occupied land soon after its earliest exploration by Europeans. Frontier areas
were also settled by new immigrants from Europe, with the encouragement of the
New South Wales Government. Indeed, the movement of the pastoral frontier
seemed so relentless that, in 1860, Sir George Ferguson Bowen (1889, p193), the
inaugural Governor of Queensland, wrote:
There is something almost sublime in the steady, silent flow of pastoral
occupation over north-eastern Australia. It resembles the rise of the tide, or
some other operation of nature, rather than the work of man [ sic ].
As a result of the rapid occupation of land, Bowen (1889, p193) stated that 'at
the close of every year, we find that the margin of Christianity and civilisation
has been pushed forward by some two hundred miles'.
The pastoral areas opened by European exploration required supplies of
water, especially from the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Herbert Rivers; the location
of rivers also determined the availability of fresh water for new settlements.
During the European settlement of Queensland, therefore, many coastal ports
were established adjacent to major rivers and were used by the Queensland Royal
Mail Line steamers, which sailed monthly between Brisbane and London using
the Inner Passage through the Great Barrier Reef, and whose operations were
subsidised by the Queensland Government. On their return journeys, those ships
brought new migrants to Queensland. In contrast, the development of terrestrial
means of transport was slow, being hindered by the Great Dividing Range, and
initially few roads and railways were constructed. Therefore, the charting of safe
passages through the Great Barrier Reef was essential for the early development
of Queensland. Extensive hydrographic surveying occurred during the voyages
of Flinders (1802), Bunker (1803), Jeffreys (1815), King (1819), Oxley (1823),
Wickham (1839 and 1845-1846), Stokes (1841), Blackwood (1843 and 1844-
1845), Yule (1844-1845), Stanley (1848), Holthouse (1976) and Gill (1988).
Those surveys informed publications for mariners, such as The Australia Directory ,
which in turn enabled more reliable shipping in the Great Barrier Reef. Surveying
vessels also carried naturalists aboard, including Jukes and MacGillivray aboard
the Fly and Huxley and MacGillivray aboard the Rattlesnake , who documented
the voyages in their journals and collected scientific data.
The development of ports encouraged the expansion of many industries
in coastal Queensland. In the northern part of the colony, coastal areas were