Family Islands National Park

Family Islands National Park
View from Mount Kootaloo on Dunk Island to other islands of the Family Islands
Coordinates: 17 ° 55 ′ 33 ″  S , 146 ° 8 ′ 7 ″  E
Location:	Queensland , Australia
Specialty:	Islands
Next city:	Kurrimine Beach
Surface:	6.63 km²
Founding:	1936-1960

The Family Islands National Park is a national park in the Australian state of Queensland . It is located near the coast about halfway between Cairns and Townsville .

location

The park consists of a total of nine islands: Wheeler Island, Coombe Island, Smith Island, Bowden Island and Hudson Island were declared a national park in 1936, Kumboola Island in 1939, Mung-Um-Gnackum and Portaboi Island in 1954 and Dunk Island in 1960. In 1994 the individual Parks combined to form Family Island National Park.

Dunk Island is by far the largest island with 970 hectares, of which 730 hectares are in the national park. The other islands are much smaller, between 49 hectares (Coombe Island) and 2 hectares (Mung-Um-Gnackum-Island).

Family Island National Park is part of the Great Barrier Reef - World Heritage Site .

Natural conditions

The islands were part of the mainland until rising sea levels severed the connection to the mainland about 8,000 years ago.

Larger mammals are absent on Dunk Island, but there are various bats and the beaked hedgehog. The island is known for the many butterflies that occur, such as the Cairns bird butterfly and the great Ulysses butterfly ( Papilio ulysses ). Notable species of birds are the black grouse and the green-backed nectar bird .

tourism

Camping options exist on Dunk, Coombe and Wheeler Island, hotels on Dunk Island.

history

The islands got their name from Captain James Cook when he explored the area in 1770. At that time, the islands had long been inhabited by the Aboriginal peoples of the Bandjin and Djiru, or they were looking for food. The first European settlers settled on Dunk Island in 1897.

Web links

• Queensland Government Information on the National Park
• National park map, pdf, engl.
• Management plan of the national park, pdf, engl.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 2010 ( MS Excel ; 170 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)
2. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 1997 ( MS Excel ; 93 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)
3. ↑ Otmar Lind & Andrea Niehus: Australia: The most beautiful natural parks, Edgar Hoff Verlag, Rappweiler, 2007, pages 202-204