The first Anti Bridge Rally organised by the Stradbroke Island Management Organisation (SIMO

Background

In 1946 Roy Bulcock bought Samarinda Guesthouse and submitted a proposal to the State Government to connect Stradbroke by road to the mainland.  By 1977, the Government supported constructing a bridge.  The Minister for Main Roads, Russ Hinze MLA, said that the bridge would be built and tenders would be called.  There were alternative routes proposed.  A number of proposals started in Logan and ‘hopped’ through various Southern Moreton Bay Islands.  Other proposals connected North Stradbroke Island to Cleveland via Peel Island.

In June 1978 at a public meeting at Point Lookout, visitors and local residents voiced strong opposition to a bridge.  The Stradbroke Island Management Organisation (SIMO) was formed to oppose the proposal.  It was felt that excessive urban development and the population explosion which would follow if a bridge were built would destroy Stradbroke’s “unique island character’.  Police permits were obtained and three protest marches were organised on Stradbroke.  In 1988 the Queensland Government finally decided that a bridge would not be built.  The last bridge proposal was to be funded by a Korean company.  Due to the threat of possible High Court legal action, the Korean investors withdrew their investment (Denis Walker 2010).

 

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