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island, especially in the form of water skiers who caused friction by
dominating the waterways during weekends, cutting foreshore trees
for barbecue fires and earning a reputation for drunkenness and
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littering. Islanders realised that they needed to communicate with
the mainland and formed the Morwong Beach Progress Association
in 1964, later changing the name to the Coochiemudlo Island
Progress Association. Although the Association was initially a place
to air grievances, it grew into a forum for sharing different
perspectives on development. In 1965 two thirds of the Association’s
members rejected a motion calling for a bridge to link Coochiemudlo
to the mainland. At the same time, a growing a consensus emerged
on using and conserving the Emerald Fringe (especially the southern
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part) by the community. The knowledge of environmental
management was not then as nuanced as it is today, with nature
being seen generally as at the service of people, but already in the
Progress Association minutes one can see the ebb and flow of
debate. Thus, one can see the Works Committee of the Association
building barbecues and stocking them with wood to save the
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foreshore trees from the depredations of the water skiers. Camping
was banned on the Fringe in 1971 by the Redland Shire Council.

In the 1970s there were significant infrastructure developments – a
concrete jetty (June 1971), planting of decorative coconut palms

34 Jones, ‘Coochiemudlo Island in the Nineteenth Century’,, p. 32.
35 D. Low-Choy, ‘The Essence of Coochie’, Chronicles of Coochiemudlo,
pp.223-230; Australia’s Community Heritage, ‘Does Coochiemudlo need a
bridge?’ https://communityheritage.net.au/does-coochiemudlo-need-bridge
(accessed 14 September 2017).
36 Minutes of Progress Association 1962-1968, held by Coochiemudlo Island
Heritage Society.

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