because they were disturbing his cattle. The last of the Keppel Islanders were forcibly removed by the Queensland Government in 1912. The Darumbal Dreamtime Centre in Rockhampton, adjacent to the Yeppoon turnoff, is the largest Aboriginal cultural centre in Australia. European settlement Discovery and exploration The Capricorn Coast was first explored by James Cook in 1770. He did not make landing in the area however he named several islands and land forms; Cape Capricorn, Keppel Isles, Keppel Bay, Cape Many Fold (later Cape Manifold), and Shoal Water Bay (later Shoalwater Bay). Matthew Flinders explored the Capricorn Coast in great detail in 1804. Flinders spent the best part of a month in the shallow bays, making landings at Curtis Island, Port Clinton, Shoalwater Bay and Percy Island. Matthew Flinders Drive, a scenic cliffside road that winds through Cooee Bay and up over the top of Wreck Point, is named in his honour. Phillip Parker King followed in 1820 but encountered difficulties when his ship, the Mermaid, ran aground. In 1843, an extensive survey was carried out by Captain Francis Price Blackwood on HMS Fly and Captain Charles Yule who commanded HMS Bramble. In 1844 and 1846, Ludwig Leichhardt and Thomas Mitchell explored what would later become Rockhampton, noting the quality of grazing lands in the district. In 1853, brothers William and Charles Archer followed in the footsteps of Leichhardt and Mitchell. They settled in Gracemere, twelve kilometres west of the present day City of Rockhampton. By 1858, the town of Rockhampton was officially proclaimed, and settlement began in earnest. Settlement In 1867, the town reserve was surveyed then proclaimed as suitable for settlement. The Government Surveyor reported the site as "Yapoon, a spot northward of Emu Park about nine miles, was most suitable as a watering place." The name, especially given its definition, is believed to have come from the Darumbal people, the indigenous tribe local to the region. Indeed, on the western fringe of Rockhampton, an expansive wetlands system was named Yeppen-Yeppen Lagoon. On that basis, the etymology of the two districts is believed to be the same. Initial settlement was slow however. Though intended to become a township, the region's rich soils attracted farmers rather than townspeople. This changed the following year with the commencement of regular stagecoach services from Rockhampton, and the continued mining of copper and gold in the coastal hinterlands around Cawarral and Mount Chalmers. By