The official Queensland Government settlement at Somerset on Cape York was established in 1864, but was moved in 1877 to the newly surveyed town of Port Kennedy on the southern side of Thursday Island. The new location provided a sheltered, deepwater anchorage, and was more centrally located along the main shipping route through the inner channel of Torres Strait – the principal trade route to Asia and the northern route to England. The first sale of crown land at Port Kennedy was held in April 1878. Although only sections 1–3 at the southwest end of the town (closest to the government buildings) were offered for sale, allotments in these sections were eagerly purchased by Queensland entrepreneurs.
