How savvy visitors claimed ‘worthless’ Moreton Island properties through squatter’s rights

A man who used squatter’s rights to claim a property on Moreton Island said the local township was once abandoned coast land regarded as so worthless it could have been “a block of land in Birdsville”.

A Moreton Island resident has revealed the small township of Bulwer was once a strip of abandoned coastal land, with several savvy visitors using squatters rights to make a slice of paradise their own.

Don Rankin and his brother Robert were keen fishermen in their 20s when they decided to investigate the origins of overgrown and empty blocks on the waterfront at Bulwer.

Mr Rankin, who still lives on the island, said he and his late brother came across a Brisbane City Council newspaper ad in the late 1970s, seeking those responsible for unpaid rates on the island.

The ad – and the pair’s knowledge of adverse possession laws (squatters rights) – prompted the men to investigate which blocks of land could be up for grabs.

The township of Bulwer on Moreton Island.

Mr Rankin told The Sunday Mail he believed there were at least 10 others who did the same thing, including former lawyer Lionel Lees and his brother-in-law Peter Moore, who took over two lots.

“Because we would have holidays up here with the fishing club, and we saw Bulwer was up … there was about 30 blocks of land (out of 60),” Mr Rankin said. “(Robert) did cartography at college and knew about adverse possession (squatters rights.)”

Mr Rankin said many of the blocks of land were seen as so worthless that some previous owners, many from the 1860s, did not even bother to write them into their wills.

“It was as if someone had left you a block of land in Birdsville … you wouldn’t want it,” he said. “People didn’t realise that their great great great grandfather owned a block of land on Moreton Island.”

They began “squatting” at 90 The Strand, eventually building a home and renting it out to holiday-makers.

Don and Robert Rankin took possession of 93 The Strand in the 1970s, eventually claiming the property in 2011.

Mr Rankin eventually bought out his brother’s share before taking his claim to the Titles Office in 2011.

“We had to prove it was surveyed, we had to prove we had all the photos,” he said.

“We had all the building receipts, we kept them all over the years.

“Anyone who takes possession really needs to keep all their records, like all the rates we paid.

“You’ve got to advertise again for the owners to come forward.”

Mr Rankin says he and his wife were the first to go for a title, prompting an avalanche of similar applications in the months and years after.

“What happened was we told a friend of ours about it,” he said.

“He told all his friends and then there was a bit of a land rush.”

By the time the flurry was over, Mr Rankin said 10 applicants were successful in their claim while another eight or 10 lost out after those who inherited the land from their original owners caught wind.

“One guy had five blocks and he lost the lot,” he said.

Not wanting to jeopardise the fortunes of others, Mr Rankin has remained tight-lipped about which blocks were successfully claimed.

Mr Rankin has since sold the land he acquired on Moreton Island, but continues to live and operate a small business in Bulwer.