1770 Capt James Cook sails past with botanist Joseph Banks; names Cape Moreton, Pt Lookout, Glass House Mtns.

1824 Lt Henry Miller arrives at Red Cliffe Pt with botanist Allan Cunningham to establish Moreton Bay penal colony.

1825 Penal colony moved to Brisbane River, right, with discovery of South Passage shipping channel.

1826 Capt Patrick Logan is commandant; strict disciplinarian; ordered extensive stone building using convict labour.

1828 Cunningham finds gap in Great Dividing Range, giving access to Darling Downs.

1842 Moreton Bay proclaimed free settlement (penal settlement closed 1839).

Aborigines resist intrusion into Ipswich, Darling Downs and upper Brisbane valley.

1845 Survivors of Ludwig Leichhardt expedition, seeking overland trade route, arrive at Port Essington after 14 months and 5000km.

1846 About 4000 Aborigines and 2257 immigrants inhabit Moreton Bay.

1847 Former Sydney Theatre Royal performer and tight-rope walker George Croft opens Australia's first amphitheatre in Brisbane.

1848 First 240 government-assisted migrants arrive in Brisbane.

Leichhardt lost on third bid at east-west crossing of Australia.

Explorer Edmund Kennedy dies in arms of his Aboriginal tracker, Jacky-Jacky, from spear wounds during Cape York expedition.

Native Mounted Police Force formed.

1849 First of Rev Dr J.D. Lang's Protestant migrants arrive; he has vision of God-fearing, hard-working farmers and skilled workers.

1850 Qld's first bank opens in Brisbane (Bank of NSW).

Migrants quarantined at Dunwich after deaths from typhus fever.

1851 Influenza epidemic hits Brisbane (again 1852).

1859 Qld separate colony from NSW; estimated population 25,000; pastoral prosperity to 1866.

Legislative Council (upper house) of 11 nominated, Legislative Assembly (lower house) of 26 elected; squatters dominate.

Governor Sir George Bowen, left, has powers to formulate, veto and administer laws, summon or dissolve Parliament, select Ministers.

1860 Volunteer defence movement (Qld Defence Force) set up.

1861 Explorers Burke and Wills perish on returning to Coopers Creek to find their rear party had left hours earlier.

Qld's first official census puts population at 30,059; Brisbane area 13,180 in 2456 dwellings.

Supreme Court of Qld established.

Racial tensions: 19 whites killed at Cullin-la-ringo Station near Emerald; Native Mounted Police shoot 60-70 Aborigines in reprisal.

1862 First Brisbane-Sydney telegraph link, via Ipswich and Toowoomba.

Ship Erin-go-bragh arrives with first of 431 Irish immigrants; quarantined with 54 typhoid deaths after 174-day voyage.