In October 1878, William Henry Buchanan selected 400 acres of land on the south bank of the Mossman River, calling it Bonnie Doon. On 22 October 1886, the murder of William Thompson by his wife
Ellen Thompson and her lover John Harrison, a worker at Bonnie Doon resulted in both of them being hanged at
Boggo Road Gaol in
Brisbane on 13 June 1887. Ellen Thompson was the only woman ever hanged in Queensland. == Demographics ==