He said the Friends of the Heritage Movement wanted the State Government to invest in a project that could preserve and share the island's history. Mr Lawler said the history of Mud Island continued to go unrecognised by people who visited it. 'There's no way we'll ever know their names because there's no way the captain ever cared.' Walking on lost and forgotten graves 'The captain said they were buried somewhere on Mud Island, the rest were buried at Dunwich,' Mr Lawler said. Newspaper articles from the period show the disregard the ship's captain had for some of his passengers' lives. Mr Lawler said no names, dates or causes of death were listed on Queensland's death registry for 24 South Sea islander men who died on a ship called Syren in 1864. Sadly, many of the island's burials weren't documented, including South Sea islander slaves transported to Brisbane to work on sugar cane plantations. Mud Island was used as an anchorage point for ships sailing to Brisbane. Mr Lawler said he wanted other families to share their stories so he and others could compile a better understanding of the island's history. 'The only reason we know that is because her family recorded it.' 'She was rowed ashore at high tide and buried in a muddy hole in the ground,' Mr Lawler said. They arrived in Moreton Bay on July 2, 1865, but the 46-year-old became ill and died while the ship was anchored at Mud Island. Mr Lawler said he and fellow historian Peter Ludlow had managed to identify four people buried on the island.Īccording to extracts from her family's history, Mills and her husband Joseph sailed for Queensland with six children in tow to escape their cold and dreary life in England. Historians still do not know the number of people buried on the island, but over time they've unearthed details about a handful of the men and women laid to rest there. Two years later the Sunday Sun newspaper reported medics and police had 'given up hope of ever solving the Mud Island body-in-a-box riddle'.

The discovery of bones in a watery grave by a fisherman in 1988 reignited interest in the island's past.

Mr Lawler said Mud Island was used as an emergency burial place until 1900 when it was turned over to oyster farmers. This white coral bank could be concealing buried bodies from the 19th century.

Mud river island