Cleveland Bay
Located between Cape Cleveland and Magnetic Island at the northern extremity of Bindal country, with Wulgurukaba country on its western shores, Cleveland Bay is effectively Townsville's natural harbour.
Shipping usually enters the bay, which was named but not closely examined by James Cook in June 1770 from the northeast. Mariners took their bearings from the Cape Cleveland lighthouse and the Bay Rock light on Magnetic Island. Access is also possible through the shallow western passage between 'the island' and Cape Pallarenda. Cook may have named the bay in honour of John Clevland, Secretary to the Admiralty (1751–1763), but Yorkshire's Cleveland Hills near his birthplace in Marton is a likely alternative.
Botanist Alan Cunningham and Captain Phillip Parker King made the first recorded European landing in the bay in 1819 when Cunningham landed to collect botanical specimens.
Castaway James Morrill, the only survivor of a group of fourteen from the wreck of the barque Peruvian who landed near Cape Bowling Green in 1846, was the first long-term European resident of the area between Cleveland Bay and Bowen.
Although George Elphinstone Dalrymple examined the area on his 1860 expedition, evaluating possible ports for the new Kennedy Pastoral District, he preferred Henry Sinclair's discovery (Port Denison) as the site for the district's port. However, the cost of freight from Bowen to the Cleveland Bay hinterland did not suit John Melton Black, who despatched a party led by Andrew Ball to search for a more convenient coastal site.
Ball's party left Woodstock Station and reached Cleveland Bay at the mouth of Ross Creek in April 1864. After setting up camp below the rocky spur, subsequently known as Melton Hill, and investigating the locality, Ball returned to Woodstock and reported his discovery.
W. A. Ross led the first party of settlers from Woodstock Station, who established the settlement that would become Townsville on 5 November 1864. When the first allotments at the new settlement were auctioned in Bowen on 31 July 1865, James Morrill was allowed to take his pick from the blocks on offer and purchase his election for the upset price.
Cleveland Bay was declared a Port of Entry on 23 September 1865.
