Keswick Island is an island in the southern half of the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

. Located 34 kilometres north-east of the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

city of

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

, Keswick Island is part of the

Cumberland Islands The Cumberland Islands form a group of 70 islands at on the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Mackay, Queensland, Mackay in Queensland, Australia. They were discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770. In 1770 James Cook (then a lieutenant in th ...

of islands that lay protected inside the waters of the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

. Controversy was sparked in 2020 after the head lease for the island was silently acquired by Chinese developer China Bloom in 2019. The developer has been accused of blocking access to the islands airstrip, boat ramps and national parks as well as illegally erecting 'keep out' signs and excavating and flattening a shoreline without a permit during turtle nesting season. The island is inhabited by a small number of residents. It is a semi-popular tourist destination set to expand with planned development. Visitors can stay in a small number of catered and self-catered accommodation. The island has its own airstrip and is accessible from

Mackay Airport Mackay Airport located in South Mackay, Queensland, Australia is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Mackay, with flights to the cities of Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Hamilton Island, Cairns and Sydney. In ...

by a short plane flight or by private boat.

History

Origin of the name

Identified as part of the Cumberland Isles Group by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1770. Keswick Island and neighbouring St Bees Island were first designated together as ‘L1 Island’ by Lieutenant

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

, RN, in ''

HMS Investigator Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Investigator''. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched. The name ''Investigator'' passed on to the Royal Indian Navy and after India's Independence, to its successor the Indian ...

'' in 1802. Keswick Island was later individually named in 1879 after the town of Keswick in England's

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

by Staff Commander E. P. Bedwell, RN, in ''SS Llewellyn''.

Environs

Keswick Island is approximately 530

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...

(1300 acres) in area, with the majority being national park. It is part of the pristine Cumberland Group of islands that consists of St Bees Island, Keswick Island, Aspatria Island,

Scawfell Island South Cumberland Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 831 km northwest of Brisbane. It is famous for the Marine stingers which can be found in the waters of the park between October and May. Islands Islands that are protecte ...

, Calder Island, Wigton Island and Cockermouth Island. The island is near to the

South Cumberland Islands National Park South Cumberland Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 831 km northwest of Brisbane. It is famous for the Marine stingers which can be found in the waters of the park between October and May. Islands Islands that are protecte ...

. Neighbouring islands in the Cumberland Group are accessible by private boat. The nearest developed neighbouring island is

Brampton Island Brampton Island is an island in the Cumberland Group, off shore from Mackay in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. The island lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, and the majority of the island forms the Brampton Island ...

some 7 km to the north. Keswick Island is separated from its nearest neighbour, St Bees Island by only a few hundred metres by the Egremont Passage. The

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

woodlands of St Bees Island are occupied by a healthy

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...

colony currently being researched by Queensland universities to examine their equilibrium with their environment. The island is located 360 km north of the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...

. Temperatures vary from 17 °C to 24 °C in winter (water temperature is a steady 20 °C), and 24 °C to 30 °C in summer (water temperature is a steady 26 °C).

Development

The overall land development lease area, which is situated in the north-eastern and eastern area of the Island, totals around 117 hectares and occupies over 4½ km of ocean front land. Resort complexes and residential housing capable of supporting a tourist and residential community are expected to be developed at some stage. The island already has some existing infrastructure such as an airstrip, sealed roads, communications services, and various utilities. The original development company was Transtate Pty Ltd who bought the head lease in 1995. The head lease changed hands in 2002 from Keswick Island Pty Ltd, and again in March 2008 to Keswick Developments Pty Ltd. In 2019, the head lease was bought by China Bloom (Hong Kong) Ltd (who later changed their name to Oasis Forest Ltd after the controversial media brought its attention to the public.) Located in a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

and being within the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park requires that building and construction is governed by environmental guidelines, detailed architectural and design codes to facilitate an

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

development. Development in the

is limited. Keswick Islands still remains relatively undeveloped. The island is inhabited by a small number of private residents and visitors. With more than 130 sub-leased land lots already established on ninety-nine year leasehold (through to the year 2096), the numbers of residents and tourism should be expected to grow significantly with any planned development.

Activities

Visitors can undertake activities such as

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

beachcombing Beachcombing is an activity that consists of an individual "combing" (or searching) the beach and the intertidal zone, looking for things of value, interest or utility. A beachcomber is a person who participates in the activity of beachcombing. ...

and

bushwalking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

. Narrow walking tracks in the

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

wind through pockets of

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

to its beaches. The island is fringed by colourful

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

and abundant marine life which provides favourable conditions for diving or snorkeling at mid-low tide. Three wrecks sites, including the protected historic wreck sites of ''The Singapore'' (a two master sail and steam vessel) and ''The Llewellyn'' (a former coastal steamer) are accessible from the island within a few minutes by boat.

Whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

can be frequently seen around the island during their annual migration through the Whitsundays between July and September.

Transport

The closest transport hub is the city of

. The island has its own sealed airstrip and was accessible from the old side of Mackay Airport on a short 10-minute flight with Keswick Development Pty Ltd's charter airline, Island Air (now defunct). It is also accessible from Mackay Harbour via chartered or private boat. Greaton Developments, China Bloom's management company, currently have a ferry named Keswick Explorer operating on most Mondays and Fridays depending on weather conditions. Moorings are available in Horseshoe Bay. Whitsunday Helicopters provide limited air services, whilst local Mackay based airline Horizon Airways (the only approved fixed wing air transport service) provides regular fixed wing transportation from the mainland. Private and other Commercial aircraft are currently not permitted to land on Keswick Island for safety reasons. Transport around the island is restricted to electric and petrol golf buggies.

Accommodation

Self-catered holiday homes are available for short-term rental.

Sale

While most of the island is designated as National Park, the islands head-lease (117 hectares) was sold to a Sydney property consortium in January 2008.Sydney group to develop pristine Keswick Island
Michelle Hele. 2 April 2008. Planned developments are said to include villas, condominiums, cafes and shops but never eventuated.Sale gives Keswick Island new lease of life
. 3 April 2008. Work on a deep-water jetty and improved barge ramps is expected to commence in the future to improve access to the island but hasn't been confirmed at this stage. Residents are still waiting for the head lease holders to build a jetty to improve the appalling access conditions currently faced. The new owners plan to develop the islands residential and eco-tourism potential in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Gallery

Image:KeswickIsland AwsomeBlue 01 small.jpg, Residential Precinct Image:KeswickIsland ConnieBay 01 small.jpg, Connie Bay Image:KeswickIsland BasilBay 02 small.jpg, Basil Bay Image:KeswickIsland_BasilBay03.jpg, Basil Bay Image:KeswickIsland_AwsomeBlue_Residential_01.jpg, Residential Precinct

Controversy

In 2020, it was reported that residents were engaged in a dispute with developer China Bloom, which obtained the main lease to the island in May 2019.

References

{{coord, 20, 54, S, 149, 24, E, display=title, region:AU_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki Concession territories Islands of Queensland Whitsunday Islands