Holbourne Island National Park

Holbourne Island National Park
Turtle shell with the names of the castaways from Gothenburg
Coordinates: 19 ° 43 ′ 44 ″  S , 148 ° 21 ′ 29 ″  E
Location:	Queensland , Australia
Specialty:	Rainforest, sea birds
Next city:	Bowen
Surface:	33.9 ha
Founding:	1982

The Holbourne Island National Park (English: Holbourne Island National Park ) is a national park in the east of the Australian state of Queensland .

location

It is 983 kilometers northwest of Brisbane and 37 kilometers northeast of Bowen .

history

Holbourne Island became famous in 1875 when 18 survivors of the sinking of the Gothenburg reached the island's shores. Four castaways landed in the damaged port lifeboat on February 25 and survived by eating raw bird eggs and drinking rainwater that had collected in puddles on the island's rocks. The next day, 14 other castaways also arrived on this island in the starboard lifeboat. Because their salvation was uncertain, they engraved their names on the inside of a large turtle shell that is now on display in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide .

On Sunday, February 28th, 15 of you set out in the starboard lifeboat on a 32-kilometer journey south, because this place was more on the route of the ships. A ship had been sent to search for the survivors of the Gothenburg disaster, fished the group and brought them safely to Bowen. Then the ship returned to Holbourne Island and picked up the remaining three survivors.

On September 2, 2001, the general cargo vessel left Pax Phoenix the port Hay Point with the aim India via Singapore . While driving past Holbourne Island, the crew noticed an oil slick that was described as 60 to 80 meters wide. It was feared that this oil spill might pollute the island and wildlife, but it was then driven out into the open sea, where it disintegrated without causing major damage.

Holbourne Island is often considered part of the Bermuda Triangle of the Coral Sea , as a number of unexplained incidents at sea have been recorded in this area.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation varies from grassland to scrub on the higher parts of the island to tropical rainforest on the coast. A small pisonia forest , as it occurs more on coral islands, is found directly on the coast, which is rather untypical for an island on the continental shelf.

Holbourne Island is also a haven for many sea birds and a nesting site for green turtles and barrier reef turtles .

Facilities and access

Camping on Holbourne Island is not permitted and there are no other facilities for visitors.

Holbourne Island can only be reached by private boats. As the northernmost of the Whitsunday Islands , it is very remote.

Web links

• Official site of the park (English)

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. ^ Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . P. 10
4. ↑ Allan McInnes: Wreck of the Gothenburg . Read at a Society meeting on February 25, 1982
5. ↑ Major Oil Spills in Australia - Pax Phoenix . Australian Government. Retrieved on January 19, 2008 ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ^ Daniel Bateman: Coral sea's Bermuda Triangle . Townsville Bulletin (2009). Retrieved June 16, 2009
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} Holbourne Island National Park . Department of Environment and Resource Management. Retrieved November 16, 2012
8. ^ Standard Exclusions for Boat Tours and Charters . Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Australian Government (2008). Retrieved on January 19, 2008 ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.