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Contributor
- Background
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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).
