Orpheus Island National Park is a national park on Orpheus Island, in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

, Australia. The Aboriginal (possibly

Nyawaygi The Nyawigi people, also spelt Nyawaygi, Nywaigi, or Nawagi, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose original country was around Halifax Bay in Far North Queensland. They may also have inhabited Orpheus Island. Language An early record sugges ...

) name for this island is Goolboddi Island. It is one of the Palm Islands group, northwest of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, as is Pelorus Island to the north; both are in the

Shire of Hinchinbrook The Shire of Hinchinbrook is a local government area in North Queensland, Queensland, Australia. The shire, administered from the town of Ingham, covers an area of , and has existed since its creation on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions ...

. Besides Orpheus Island, the national park also includes Albino Rock, which is located east of Great Palm Island (usually known as Palm Island). Orpheus Island is a

continental island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Orpheus Island was inhabited by an

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, probably the

Nyawigi The Nyawigi people, also spelt Nyawaygi, Nywaigi, or Nawagi, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose original country was around Halifax Bay in Far North Queensland. They may also have inhabited Orpheus Island. Language An early record sugge ...

people. The name "Orpheus" was given to the island in 1887 by Lieutenant G. E. Richards, referring to HMS ''Orpheus'', a Royal Navy ship which was wrecked off the coast of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

in 1863. In 1960 it was declared a national park. In 2002 the island was bought by Jim Wilson who had developed the Freycinet Lodge in Tasmania, and bought off him in 2011 by Chris Morris, the

Computershare Computershare Limited is an Australian stock transfer company that provides corporate trust, stock transfer and employee share plan services in a number of different countries. The company currently has offices in 20 countries, including A ...

mogul. A

research station Research stations are facilities where scientific investigation, collection, analysis and experimentation occurs. A research station is a facility that is built for the purpose of conducting scientific research. There are also many types of resea ...

, operated by

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

, is located on the island. Since 2000,

St Michael's Grammar School , motto_translation = For the Church of God , location = 25 Chapel Street, St Kilda, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Melbourne , ...

(of

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 6 km (4 miles) south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local governmen ...

) has run a

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

project each June. Since 201
Reef Ecologic
has run an annual reef restoration and leadershi
workshop
at the research station. The group published a research paper on findings from citizen scientists on a rare, large coral bommie at Orpheus Island in 2021 A citizen science database using iNaturalist has recorded over 700 observations of 334 species with the most observed species the Australian Green Tree Frog There is also a luxury resort on the island, the Orpheus Island Great Barrier Reef Luxury Resort. Great Palm Island is the closest location with government facilities.

References

External links

* {{authority control National parks of Queensland Islands on the Great Barrier Reef Townsville Protected areas established in 1960 1960 establishments in Australia Great Palm Island group

See also

References

External links