Page 2 - Heritage A5 compile

The Emerald Fringe

The term ‘Emerald Fringe’ describes a vegetated area between the
private residential area and the water’s edge of Moreton Bay around
1
the circumference of Coochiemudlo Island. The name was
popularised during public discussion of a Land Management Plan in
2003 resulting in members of the community using the name ever
2
since. The colour ‘emerald’ refers to the vegetation of the Fringe
3
that includes the distinctive White Cypress or Bribie Island Pine
whose deep green, emerald foliage stands out from the grey green
foliage of the eucalypts and casuarinas. These trees impressed
Matthew Flinders when he arrived in 1799. He called it ‘the new pine’
in his report to Governor John Hunter and no doubt wished to draw
4
attention to its potential economic significance. Indeed, timber
getting was the first labour-intensive industry on Coochiemudlo, the
felled cypress logs being floated up to Cleveland and also to
5
Brisbane for use in building the wharves there.

1 R. Friend and Associates In association with EPM Consulting and John
Smout Social Planning, Coochiemudlo Island Land Management Plan
February 2004,
http://web01.redland.qld.gov.au/robo/plans/Coochiemudlo_LMP/Coochiemudl
o_LMP_final_Dale-dan_03-04.htm Accessed 4 July 2017.
2 Coochiemudlo Island Land Management Plan.
3 Callitris columellaris.
4 J. G. Steele,The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, University
of Queensland Press, 1983, p.24.
5 E. F. Jones ‘Coochiemudlo Island in the Nineteenth Century’, in Chronicles
of Coochiemudlo: Selected Vignettes of the Social and natural History of
Coochiemudlo Island, Moreton Bay, Queensland, J. Pearn (ed), Amphion
Press, Brisbane, 1993, p.28