Redcliffe

Redcliffe holds the distinction of being the first European settlement in Queensland. The area was first visited by Matthew Flinders on 17 July 1799. Explorer John Oxley recommended "Red Cliffs Point" to the Governor Thomas Brisbane as the site of a penal colony. He and Settlement Commandant Lieutenant Miller, a crew and 29 convicts sailed on the Amity from Sydney and arrived at Redcliffe on 13 September 1824. In 1825 the settlement was relocated to the banks of the Brisbane River, and Redcliffe was deserted until the 1860s when it was designated as an agricultural reserve. Residential development began in the 1880s and the population grew significantly after the 1935 when the Hornibrook Highway was opened. The two lane 2.8 km long Hornibrook Bridge crossed the mouth of Pine River and linked the peninsula to Brisbane. A replacement three lane bridge, the Houghton Highway, was opened in 1979.

Redcliffe is also the former home of the Bee Gees who have since described the area as 'paradise'.