Yunbenun, as Magnetic Island was known by the island's traditional inhabitants, had a semi-permanent population of Australian Aborigines well before European exploration of the area. These populations were known to have permanent camps at a number of bays, and had the ability to travel to the mainland using canoes. A number of Aboriginal burial sites are known to exist on the island, but have so far not been discovered by European development or exploration of the island. Aboriginal middens and cave drawings can still be found in a number of bays around Magnetic Island. Folklore of the Wulguru tribe, who inhabited the island, recounts a long history of inhabitation and annual migration to the mainland to avoid the traveling tribes from Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait, who used the northern trade winds to travel south from their native lands in order to head-hunt indigenous tribes along the northern coasts of Australia. This head-hunting activity near-ceased following the arrival of missionaries, led by Samual MacFarlane to the Torres Straits in 1871.
The first European accounts of the island come from Captain James Cook who, in 1770, while navigating the Australian coast, called the island Magnetical Island, as a magnetic pull interfering with his vessel's compass appeared to emanate from the island. J.M. Black, funded by Robert Towns, founded the township of Townsville on the mainland nearby. As Townsville developed though the mid-19th century, Magnetic Island became a valuable location for the gathering of hoop pine and granite, the latter of which was used in the reclamation of land for the Port of Townsville, and for construction of Townsville's Customs House.
European settlement and development
Picnic Bay was named after its popularity as a picnic spot for European tourists from the mainland during the 19th century, before Magnetic Island was first inhabited by Europeans. In the mid-19th
