New book about Coochiemudlo Island, Ted Jones, and a mariner’s mystery
On 20 July, Christine Leonard will launch her third non-fiction book, Coochiemudlo: A Mariner’s Mystery. The book’s subtitle, A question of latitude for Edward Field Jones, sheds light on its focus — one the island’s (now passed) identities.
Christine started this project as a straightforward biography of Edward Field Jones, an amateur historian who lived on Coochiemudlo Island for 47 years. Although the man and his work is central to the story, Coochiemudlo is as much a character in this tale as the intriguing Ted Jones — as he was known by everyone on the island.
Ted avidly researched Matthew Flinders’ exploration of Moreton Bay in 1799, during his voyage up the eastern coastline of Australia on his sloop, the Norfolk. Ted discovered that the identity of one of six islands in Moreton Bay, that Flinders had named by number, was still in doubt and therefore a mystery. Historians debated that the sixth island was either Karragarra or Macleay. Ted Jones set out to prove otherwise.
Ted was an aviation navigator during World War II. He tested Flinders’ bearings with a mariner’s sextant. He understood maps better than most. After reading Flinders’s descriptions of the sixth island, Ted was convinced that it was Coochiemudlo Island.
Ted was not an academic, nor a professional historian. For nearly ten years he tried to convince members of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, and others, that his theory was correct. In 1977, he was finally vindicated.
Christine’s story telling also weaves together people and events on the island from the 1960s through to the 1980s. It offers an insight into the community’s ups and downs that ultimately brought irreversible change to a small island.
Ted Jones passed away in 2012 but his memory lives on.
If you’re interested in Australian social history, and especially the history of Coochiemudlo, Christine’s book will be worth a read.
The author, Christine Leonard
Christine Leonard lives on Coochiemudlo Island.
Her book, Coochiemudlo: A Mariner’s Mystery, will be launched on the island on 20 July 2025. Event details will posted here when they are finalised.
Visit Christine’s website: www.leonardstories.com
