Charles Blackman’s early Queensland paintings have a unique visual vocabulary inspired by the artist’s immediate environment. In 1952 Blackman left Melbourne and rented a cottage on North Stradbroke Island, in Moreton Bay, where he painted. Stradbroke ferry depicts the ferry to this popular island holiday spot, at night. The application of paint evokes the reflection of the jewel-like lights of the ferry and the coastal settlement on the water.

Through his friendship with Barrett Reid in Brisbane, Blackman met art patrons John and Sunday Reed in Melbourne and through them he was introduced to Sidney Nolan’s early St Kilda works. In Stradbroke ferry, Blackman’s simplification of forms reflects both the influence of Nolan's work and the child-like, graphic quality that was to become characteristic of Blackman's work. In 1952, before Blackman left Melbourne, Sunday Reed had presented him with a leather plumber’s bag filled with brushes and small tins of Dulux enamel paint. The bright, glossy enamel surface of this work suggests that Blackman may have used house paints, possibly those given to him by Sunday Reed.