The pristine North Stradbroke Island, or "Straddie" as it's known by many Queenslanders, is a holiday hot spot just a short ferry ride from Brisbane.
For generations the island's unspoilt sand dunes have made it a well-loved tourist destination.
Those rolling dunes have also been the source of extensive sandmining operations under a range of mining companies since the 1940s.
But that era is about to come to an end, causing a massive change to the local economy.
Dave Thelander — better known as "Barefoot Dave" on the island — is a tour guide and marriage celebrant who is confident the island's natural beauty will sell itself.
He has lived on Straddie on and off for more than 60 years.
"I love showing people the island and all the wildlife associated with it," Mr Thelander said.
"That passage of water is the most concentrated passing of the humpback whale in the world.
"We will get to see 97 per cent of all the whales going north and south and the other 3 per cent are just over the horizon.
"It's the most easterly point in Queensland that north gorge. So it's very special.
"I think we're just going to have to deal with it because mining's going to close, whether you think it's good or bad it doesn't really matter, you've just got to make a living somehow.
"And if tourism is the way to go then tourism it is. So you're just got to put your boots on and go for it."
The Queensland Government recently legislated that sandmining on North Stradbroke Island would be phased out by 2019.
But sandmining company Sibelco has announced it will restructure its workforce ahead of that time.
This has caused concern among some locals about the future of the island, and whether it can be economically viable after the sand mines shut down.
The head of the local Chamber of Commerce, Colin Battersby, said businesses were trying to adjust.
"This has been going for five or six years, on again, on again, off again," Mr Battersby said.
"So now at least we know there's certainty working towards 2019, a lot of things to do and put in place.
"It doesn't matter if I think it's enough time or not, we're rolling our sleeves up and getting on with it, trying to get smart, produce a good tourist product and presenting it well."
Quandamooka people hopeful for new chapter
The traditional owners, the Quandamooka Aboriginal people, hope their connection to the region of more than 20,000 years will now be better recognised, starting a new chapter for the place they have long known as Minjerribah, meaning "island in the sun".
Joint management coordinator for the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, Darren Burns, said while mining had brought economic benefits to the island, it had also come at an environmental cost, and it was time to give the island a break.
"The sky's not going to fall and we're just going to get on with our plans for the future," he said.
"It was good for its day, you know you can't deny the value the mining had for our Aboriginal community, it gave Aboriginals a lifestyle that people could only dream of and supported our Aboriginal community right through to these recent times and put the Aboriginal community in the good stead it's in.
"It's just in this day and age ... even a lot of the miners agree that it's time to move on."
Joshua Walker tells the stories of his ancestors through dance with the Yulu-Burri-Ba group.
He is helping to revive traditional Indigenous practices that are important for the Aboriginal cultural renaissance of North Stradbroke Island.
The Jandai language was spoken by his ancestors for hundreds of generations.
He said renaming Stradbroke Island its traditional name of Minjerribah would be one way of reconnecting all cultures to the history of the island.
"Each dance has a storyline that is used to pass on the information," he said.
"To revitalise the Moreton Bay language and encourage the younger ones to start speaking the language, hopefully in the future we'll have a lot more speakers."
Community optimistic about transition
Quandamooka woman Evelyn Parkin was born on Stradbroke Island, and has watched the island go from actively discouraging Aboriginal culture, to now embracing it.
"My older sister remembers our grandfather and his brothers talking in [Aboriginal] language," she said.
"And she also remembers them being told not to speak it or they'd be shipped away off the island. So, there's the sort of things our people lived with.
"Times have changed and now all our young ones have been able to enjoy that language and song and dance and listening to the dreaming stories that have been there all the time so all that comes back to you, it's not lost."
Her daughter, Delvene Cockatoo Collins, has shown her faith in the next stage for Straddie, by returning to the island after years interstate, and starting her own art gallery Made in Minjerribah.
"My family's been here forever and that's where my connection is. Mum was born here, her mother, her mother's mother, we go all the way through," Delvene said.
"I feel excited by the opportunities that people together will be able generate.
"I'm part of the story, a small part of it. A lot of people are calling it transition."
$200m needed for economic transition: mayor
The Queensland Government has allocated $20 million in an economic strategy to help North Stradbroke Island's transition away from sandmining, and focus more on tourism.
This is causing divisions between some locals who worry about how the island economy will go, relying on tourism alone.
Redland City Council manages the islands of Moreton Bay.
Mayor Karen Williams said $20 million for such a massive transition and change to the island's economy and way of life, is simply nowhere near enough.
"Ten times more money for North Stradbroke Island probably still wouldn't go far enough but to do it in such a short period of time," she said.
"I've been saying quite openly that $200 million is probably closer to the mark and the State Government needs to lead that direction and make that happen ASAP.
"I don't know if tourism will ever replace the jobs that the mining industry had for North Stradbroke Island."
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian MacFarlane agrees the amount allocated to the transition by the Government is inadequate, saying the State Government has forced North Stradbroke Island residents to move away from mining before they are ready.
"There was no process around this and the economic cost of this is enormous it runs into hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.
"It's not just the $10 million a year that the State Government got in royalties, it's not the million dollars a year that the Indigenous community gets in royalties, it's the flow on into the community.
"So there's $4 million worth of wages that won't be there after 2019, the ferry company alone will lose around $5 million a year.
"The Government now has the responsibility to these communities, both on Stradbroke and on the coast, to make sure the hundreds of millions of dollars lost to these communities is somehow addressed and that the people of those communities don't pay the price for a decision made in the leafy suburbs of Brisbane."
But local Quandamooka woman Evelyn Parkin is optimistic for the future of Straddie, as she watches it transition away from mining, back to what it was known as for hundreds of generations — Minjerribah, the island in the sun.
"It's a good time to be in I reckon," she said.
"You can see the changes and you can feel it most importantly you can feel it in the air. There's excitement there. I like that."
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