[10] Farmers and oystermen were the first full-time inhabitants, but with the arrival of the Jackson family in 1906, a small village was created on the western side of the island called Jacksonville, that had a sawmill, pineapple canning factory, jetty and even a picture theatre.

[11] Russell Island State School was officially opened on Thursday 20 January 1916 by James Stodart, member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Logan.

[12] It opened for lessons on Monday 24 January 1916 under 17-year-old head teacher Miss Eileen Willes.

[16] Russell Island Methodist Church opened on Saturday 18 December 1920 in Jackson Road.

Heavily advertised and sold off by unscrupulous vendors, these blocks were often not where the unwary customers thought they were buying.

Media reports exposing the scam pointed to blocks that were underwater at high tide and the lack of public land.

[21] On 12 April 2008, a public 25 metre swimming pool jointly funded by the Redland City Council, the Queensland State Government, a rates levy and nearly 20 years of donations from residents was completed.

The name Canaipa was provided from Yugambeh people[25] and identified as a Yugambeh-Bundjalung language word from the Ngaraangbal dialect spoken by the Pimpama clan meaning place of ironbark spear/digging stick,[26][27] the name is used by both the Quandamooka and Yugambeh people, who assert traditional ownership.

[28][29] The move is motivated by the desire to improve public perceptions (and hence real estate values) which were damaged by the earlier land scams.

[citation needed] However, this changes dramatically on weekends and holidays when many of the 30% of dwellings on the island which are classified as unoccupied are visited by their owners.

The other top responses for country of birth were New Zealand 6.1%, England 5.7%, Scotland 1%, Philippines 1%, Germany 0.9%.

[34] 85.8% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 0.5% Hungarian, 0.4% German, 0.4% Filipino, 0.4% French, 0.3% Croatian.

[43][44] A Council-built hall near the main wharf is available and, centrally located on Jackson Street, the Bay Islands Community Centre has rooms.

Resident driven plans for the 4.5 ha block include sporting facilities and a community farm.