Point Lookout is a headland, small coastal town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivi ...

on the eastern coast of

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was o ...

(Minjerribah),

Redland City Redland City, better known as the Redlands and formerly known as Redland Shire, is a Local government in Australia, local government area and a part of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland. With a population of 156,863 in Jun ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. At the , the locality of Point Lookout had a population of 785 people.

Geography

Point Lookout is Queensland's most easterly point. To the north lies

Cape Moreton Cape Moreton is a rocky headland at the north eastern tip of Moreton Island in South East Queensland, Australia. The surrounding area is part of the Moreton Island National Park. Flinders Reef is north-west of Cape Moreton. The outcrop is m ...

and to the south the next major headland is Point Danger on the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

border. The other

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

s on the island are

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...

and Amity Point. In the west near the caravan park is Rocky Point and Adder Rock. Cylinder Beach extends eastwards towards Cylinder Headland. Frenchmans Beach fronts Frenchmans Bay. At the eastern extremity is North Gorge and Whale Rock. Offshore are several rocky outcrops above sea level. The headland is an ideal location for land-based seawatching in Australia.

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hum ...

s can also be seen from here as they migrate along the

east coast of Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

. The area is mostly residential houses and tourist apartments built close to the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

and atop nearby ridges to take advantage of sweeping

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

views. There are a few shops and a caravan park at Point Lookout. There is no railway on the island, the nearest station being in Cleveland to the west. Dunwich airport is southwest.

History

The point was sighted and named by James Cook on

HMS Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier ''Earl of Pembroke'' ...

during his exploration of the

on 17 May 1770. In 1803

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland ...

in the cutter ''Hope'' came ashore at Cylinder Beach (Hopewell) to find water as he was returning to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman ...

( Sydney) after he was wrecked in HMS Porpoise on the Wreck Reefs off

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...

. It is first recorded contact between the British and the Noonuccal people in this area. The Aboriginal people assisted Flinders in finding fresh water to fill his barrels. The Point Lookout Lighthouse was constructed in 1932, which is still in use today. On 14 May 1943, the single greatest loss of life resulting from a submarine attack in Australian waters occurred ENE off Point Lookout when the hospital ship

AHS Centaur Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) ''Centaur'' was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 died, includi ...

was sunk by a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

submarine. On 15 May 1994 Minister for Veterans Affairs, Con Sciacca, officially unveiled a memorial to the sinking of the Centaur on Cylinder Beach Headland. The Point Lookout Library opened in 2011. At the , Point Lookout recorded a population of 713 people, 47.1% female and 52.9% male. The median age of the Point Lookout population was 53 years, 15 years above the national median of 38. 72.1% of people living in Point Lookout were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 4.7%, New Zealand 2.1%, South Africa 1.4%, United States of America 1% and Philippines 0.7%. 85.2% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were French 0.6%, Croatian 0.4% and Japanese 0.4%. At the , Point Lookout recorded a population of 785 people, 47.6% female and 52.2% male. The median age of the Point Lookout population was 55 years. 71.5% of people living in Point Lookout were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 5%, New Zealand 2%, United States of America 1.8%, South Africa 1%, and Thailand 0.9%. 83.2% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were Italian 0.9%, Thai 0.8% and German 0.5%.

Heritage listings

Point Lookout has one heritage site, Point Lookout Foreshore along East Coast Road ().

Education

There are no schools in Point Lookout. The nearest government primary school is Dunwich State School in

to the south-west. The nearest government secondary school is Cleveland District State High School in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

on the mainland.

Amenities

The

Redland City Council Redland City, better known as the Redlands and formerly known as Redland Shire, is a local government area and a part of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland. With a population of 156,863 in June 2018, the city is spread alo ...

operates a public library at the Point Lookout Community Hall () at 74-84 Dickson Way (also known as East Coast Road).

Attractions

There is a monument commemorating the naming of Point Lookout by James Cook in 1770. It is opposite 19 Mooloomba Road, near the Gorge Walk (). There is a monument commemorating the assistance the Aboriginal people gave to Matthew Flinders in 1803. It is at Hopewell Street on the Cylinder Beach Headland (). There is a monument commemorating the Stradbroke Island Radar Site, which was part of Australia's air defence network during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It is on the Gorge Walk off Headland Park Access Road (). There is a monument commemorating the sinking of the AHS Centaur in Hopewell Street on Cylinder Beach Headland ().

References

External links

* * {{authority control Coastal towns in Queensland Suburbs of Redland City Headlands of Queensland Lookouts in Queensland Localities in Queensland