St Helena Island National Park, National park on St Helena Island in Queensland, Australia.
St Helena Island is a protected reserve spanning roughly 0.75 square kilometers (0.3 square miles) off the coast of Brisbane in Queensland. The island is covered with mangrove forests, wetlands, and grassy areas that are home to different native animal species.
St Helena Island was used as a quarantine station in the 19th century before becoming Queensland's first prison; from 14 May 1867 prisoners from the hulk Proserpine built the gaol, and five men jailed over the 1891 shearers' strike were held here. The last prisoner left on 15 February 1933, and the ruined stone and brick walls with their arched openings still stand in the grass.
Aboriginal people knew the island as Noogoon and visited it for thousands of years to gather shellfish and hunt dugongs and flying foxes in season. In 1827 the Quandamooka headman Eulope was exiled there by Captain Patrick Logan; the island was nicknamed St Helena after Napoleon's exile. Eulope stripped a sheet of tree bark, sewed both ends and paddled back to Stradbroke Island.
Getting to the island means taking a boat ride from Brisbane, as it is only accessible by water. Guided tours walk visitors through the historic prison structures and explain what you see across the site.
The island holds over 100 archaeological sites and the finest collection of prison buildings from colonial times in Queensland. These remains offer a rare view into what daily punishment was actually like in the 1800s.
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