Deception Bay Heritage Walk

Deception Bay Heritage Walk, Moreton Bay, Queensland. Australia

This morning’s walk was curiously named town of Deception Bay, which lies approximately 30 kilometres north of Brisbane. It is called Deception Bay because when discovered by Lieutenant John Oxley in 1823, he thought the bay was a river because of its unusual shallowness.

There’s now a more interesting way to learn about your past when taking a walk. The Deception Bay Digital Heritage Trail, debuted a couple of years ago, features an interactive guide to the original heritage trail located at the Captain Cook Parade. The Deception Bay Heritage Trail takes you back to the town’s early days, when the area was remote, roads were dusty tracks and Aboriginal locals maintained traditional lifestyle and culture.

Deception Bay Heritage Trail is a fascinating and scenic 4 km waterfront walk that combines nature and history in one. Features of the Deception Bay Heritage Trail include a dedicated dog swimming beach (near Boama Park), boat ramps, wetlands, cottonwood groves and the historically significant Bancroft Sea Baths. During low tide, keen-eyed visitors to the trail might be able to spot the Bancroft Baths, carved into the sandstone and hidden in the mudflats. In the 19th century, it was a widely held belief that the fresh sea air and water were a way of healing the illnesses caused by the increasingly industrialised world, and it’s an idea that still seems to ring true today. Deception Bay holds the only known baths of these kind in the state.

Beyond the mudflats, there are many sites of historical and cultural significance along the walk, including the site of the World War II army camp created to retrain Australian soldiers to fight in the Pacific region after Japan entered the war.

There are 13 information signs outlining details about the local history which makes this walk through Moreton Bay Marine Park particularly interesting. The signs discuss the lives of the local inhabitants as well as the early settlers, especially Dr Thomas Bancroft who carved out the bathing pools along the foreshore for his wife.

Moreton Bay and its islands boast a fascinating past from Fort Lytton’s military fortification and quarantine station to St Helena Island’s penal establishment.

Moreton Bay Council’s digital heritage trails showcase the region’s history and heritage on a new digital platform. The digital heritage trails include several new features such as audio narration, photos and an interactive map. Follow the story behind the region’s history using a smartphone, a tablet device or a desktop computer.

Deception Bay Heritage Trail. Stops : 16  | Length : 2.3km | Time : 1 hour

https://mbrc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=cb4918d69a514413a919bbf0e39b014d

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