Back to map Brookes Beach

This small beach lies between Bingil Bay and Garners* Beach and is one of those rare beaches in Australia that has its original natural rainforest fringe traversing the entire length of the sand edge.

It has none of the usual beachside roads or buildings common to most Australian beaches and, apart from a few imported species like coconuts and Singapore daisy, is virtually as it was before Europeans settled here.

Bernie Brooke

Dorothy Victoria Watson came from England to the Atherton Tablelands in 1920 where she met and married Bernie Brooke (above) in 1922. Bernie operated a bullock team for hauling timber in Millaa Millaa. They had three children, Ray, Gordon (‘Tiger’) and Ruth. In 1944, Dorothy and Bernie adopted a son, Paul, who would do a tour of duty of Vietnam. In 1931, the Brooke family moved to Silkwood (Number 4 Branch) where Bernie cut cane.

On 07 February 1942, the Brooke family left for Hughenden in accord with Police advice to leave the area during the war. Bernie volunteered for the Civil Construction Core to build roads and airfields. Ray joined the Air Force where he served in PNG’s Land Aircraft Crew preparing aircraft for flights. They returned to North Queensland in 1955 where they had purchased land earlier on the north headland of Brookes Beach. They built a home (relocated from elsewhere) but that was demolished after Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

Dorothy and Bernie (above) sustained a good life on the land in their retirement at Brookes Beach. Bananas, pineapples, and pawpaw were grown in abundance. Bernie passed away in 1969 aged 79. Brookes Beach had no properly assigned name, so locals often referred to it as Middle Beach being between Bingil Bay and Garners Beach.

Around 1980, Johnstone Shire Council officers approached Dorothy and sought permission to name the beach she lived on (ultimately for 32 years) Brookes Beach. The name was not gazetted but after some lobbying, Ken Gray affirmed the name with Queensland Places and Google Earth.

In 1989, Dorothy moved into the Pinehaven Home in Tully where she was affectionately known as Brookie. She died there aged 94 in 1991.           

Brookes Beach

References & Reading:

Ken Gray, Naming Brookes Beach, The Story of Dorothy Brooke, Mission Beach Historical Society, H014, 2022

*Refer Garners Beach Road, Bingil Bay.

Brisbane Courier Mail Annual 1967

Image author’s own