Naming Brisbane Water
The first white visitors to Brisbane Water consisted of a party led by Governor Phillip which left Sydney on March 2, 1788.
They came with a number of sailors in a long boat to examine the broken land northward of Port Jackson mentioned by Captain Cook.
Captain Phillip, in a letter to Lord Sydney in England dated May 15, 1788, gave particulars of this journey.
He wrote: "After passing a bar that had only water for small vessels, entered a very extensive branch from which the ebb tide came out so strong that the boats could not row against it in the stream; and here was deep water."
"It appeared to end in several small branches and in a large lagoon that we could not examine for want of time to search for a channel for the boats among the sand and mud.
"Pelicans and a variety of birds were seen here in great numbers."
Until 1825 this stretch of water was known as the North East Arm of Broken Bay.
In that year it was renamed Brisbane Water in honour of Sir Thomas MacDougall Brisbane, Governor of NSW from 1821 to 1825.
The early Governors enjoyed naming places after themselves.
Email, 20 Jan 2013
David Benwell, Umina