Dunwich Convict Causeway

When you arrive at Dunwich, take time to stop and look at the stone retaining wall at the ferry terminal. It was built by convicts in 1827, as a jetty. It was built of rough red stone, laid without mortar. Dunwich was established as a military post and stores depot, and provided accommodation for convict labourers, boatmen and soldiers. Its strategic locality was important in the development of Brisbane, first as a convict settlement and later as free settlement, with Dunwich used as a port facility, quarantine station and briefly as a leprosarium. Shoaling at the Brisbane River mouth made access difficult for ships. Dunwich provided a safe anchorage for large vessels, with passengers and goods transferred to smaller boats to travel up river. By 1866 the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum was established to house the old and infirm, and access was improved in 1886 with the addition of a timber jetty on the end of the causeway. The Asylum closed in 1947. Sandmining then commenced and barges were used to take the sand to the mainland for processing. A tourist service evolved as well and in 1964 a better ramp was constructed to the south east of the convict-built causeway.