Stormy

We're in Brisbane for a few days, for a family Christmas. We had coffee this morning at Manly, on Moreton Bay, seen in the photo. The land in the distance is North Stradbroke Island. It is made almost entirely of sand. The hills are sand dunes, which rise to just under 300 m above sea level. 

It was named Stradbroke Island in 1827 by Royal Navy explorer, Captain Henry Rous who named it after his father, the Earl of Stradbroke*. The First Nations traditional owners would like their name, Minjerribah, to be widely used. Around here, just about everyone calls it 'Straddie'.

Captain Rous, during a second voyage in 1828,  also named places around our home town of Lennox Head, 2 hour's drive south of here. I've blipped about him before. 

*There is another version of the naming. Rous had a 'passenger' on the 1827 voyage, the Governor of NSW Sir Ralph Darling. It may have been the Governor who did the naming, honouring the family of his host, Captain Rous.