Saint Helena Island National Park

This picturesque island in Moreton Bay has a turbulent past, as the site of Queensland's first penal settlement. Ruins remain from the years (1867 to 1932) when it was home to prisoners and their warders. See remnants of beautifully landscaped gardens and food crops, such as olive trees, growing among native vine thickets.

Imagine life as a prisoner or warder while on a guided tour of the prison's stone ruins. Become absorbed in prison artefacts and photos in the restored Chief Warder's quarters. Take your own walk into history, among the cemeteries, the old quarry, the jetty and Queensland's first tramway. Middens and shell scatters show that Aboriginal people visited the island seasonally for thousands of years. Watch for shorebirds, dugong and turtles in the surrounding Moreton Bay Marine Park.