Take Journeys back in time

Just three days remain for a Pine Rivers Heritage Museum exhibition exploring why people came to the Moreton Bay region.

Journeys, which finishes on Sunday, shows life in colonial Queensland in the 800s and includes items from the Morayfield Plantation site.

Archaeologist Christopher van der Westhuizen said there are six exhibits from the site where Unitywater’s Caboolture River Nutrient Offset Project is located.

“Artefacts on display include brick fragments, roof tile fragments and ceramic fragments that were possibly drainage pipes,” Mr van der Westhuizen said.

“These artefacts relate to the sugar cultivation period at Morayfield Plantation between 1866 – 1889.

“Morayfield was one of the first plantations making extensive use of Australian South Sea Islander labour.

“The uncovered brick fragments are sandstock cast, and similar in appearance to those found at the extant staircase of the Morayfield Plantation House,” he said.

Unitywater Executive Manager Strategic Engagement, Joshua Zugajev, said the artefacts were found within the North Harbour development.

“We have indigenous and non-indigenous monitors working on our projects to preserve the region’s cultural heritage,” he said.

“We’ve worked to understand the heritage of this site, its significance to First Nations peoples for thousands of years, and more recent history, including the Morayfield Plantation.”

Mr Zugajev said the Caboolture River Nutrient Offset Project was one of Australia’s largest nutrient offsetting river rehabilitation projects in an estuarine environment.

“We’re stabilising and revegetating about 2.4km of the lower Caboolture River to reduce nutrient input by preventing riverbank erosion with earthworks to create a stable bank profile,” he said.

“It’s one of our environmental projects that will balance the impact of nutrients being released to the river after treating the community’s wastewater and help us achieve our commitment to net zero nutrients to waterways by 2040.”

For more about the project visit www.unitywater.com/caboolture-river

More about the exhibition: www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Galleries- Museums/Events/PRHM/Journeys