History
Tiny isle is big on Indigenous legend and modern significance
As the annual Island Charity Swim looms, AUDIENNE BLYTH looks at the part Mudjimba/Old Woman Island has played in the Coast’s history.
How amazing! A charity swim on Saturday, May 10, from Mudjimba, around Mudjimba Island/Old Woman Island to the Mooloolaba Spit.
It is a great physical challenge and an opportunity to be part of something truly extraordinary.
Swimmers are making history.
Funds raised go directly to supporting the inspirational children at the Nambour and Currimundi special schools.
Past events have shown how valuable this fundraising is and how mighty our swimmers are.
The individual course is about 10 kilometres and takes from two to four hours. There is also an alternate, shorter course for teams from Mooloolaba.
Kayakers and canoeists are often seen paddling the distance.
On the day of the charity swim, support crews will accompany the swimmers to bring them home safely.
The island itself is tiny (just under two hectares or five acres in size) and just two kilometres off the mainland.
It is a backdrop to our coastal views.
Actual access to the rocky coast of the island is difficult.
Indigenous stories tell us about the island. Two great Kabi warriors, Ninderry and Coolum, battled for the hand of the beautiful Maroochy.
Ninderry knocked off Coolum’s head and hurled it into the sea. It became the island we know as Mudjimba.
We can see Mt Ninderry standing proud but Mt Coolum is forever humbled: flat-topped, without a head.
The beautiful Maroochy, forever weeping, became the Maroochy River.
Another story comes from two Indigenous women who lived on the island. It is believed to be the reason it became known as Old Woman Island.
The women crossed to the island using a floating bunya pine as a canoe.
The log floated away, leaving them stranded. So, they set about making themselves comfortable.
There was no shortage of food: midyim berries, pandanus fruit, fish, crabs and shellfish abounded.
The two women stayed there.
As they grew older, they took turns crabbing and fishing.
The people on the mainland could see only one woman at any time so they called the place Old Woman Island.
As time went by, Kabi men paddled out to the island and found plenty of midyim bushes growing there.
They renamed it Midyimba and later as Mudjimba.
Midyim or midjim (Austromyrtus dulcis) is a small bush that bears white berries with green spots – sweet and tangy bush tucker. It grows well in sand along the coastline.
The suffix ‘ba’ means ‘place of’. So, Mudyimba means ‘the place where the midyim grows’.
Wedge-tailed shearwaters nest on the island and research about them has been carried out.
There is evidence of past habitation on the island.
Scattered rocks remain that were once a rough shelter.
In 1968, John Blackwood-Sewell lived there with a lease from the Department of Natural Resources.
He was followed by other leasees, including Peter Troy, who relinquished it in 1993.
The island is now part of the Maroochy River Conservation Park.
Audienne Blyth is a member of the Nambour Historical Museum, open 1-4pm Wednesdays to Fridays, and 10am-3pm Saturdays.
