The Howick Island is the southernmost and a now uninhabited

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

in the Howick group that is part 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 ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf ...

, Australia. It fell within the territory of the

Ithu The Ithu were an indigenous Australian people of the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula, northern Queensland. Country The Ithu's territory, including Noble Island, the adjacent reefs, and islands, such as Howick within the Howick island ...

people in pre-colonial times. The island is located in the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fren ...

and is situated about south-east of

Cape Melville Cape Melville is a headland on the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. To its west lies Princess Charlotte Bay. It is part of the Cape Melville National Park. Cape Melville was named Stoney Cape in 1815 by Lieutenant Charles ...

. The area of the island is approximately .

Etymology

The island group was named by Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys RN, captain of HMS ''

Kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

'', in 1815, possibly after Sir Charles Grey, Viscount Howick, a soldier.

Ion Idriess Ion Llewellyn Idriess (20 September 18896 June 1979) was a prolific and influential Australian author. He wrote more than 50 books over 43 years between 1927 and 1969 – an average of one book every 10 months, and twice published three books i ...

' first novel, ''

Madman's Island ''Madman's Island'' is a 1927 novel by Ion Idriess set in northern Australia. It was Idriess' first novel and was semi-autobiographical, although he invented the love interest at the insistence of the publisher. Plot Jack Burnett decides to go pro ...

'', was published in 1927 and is semi-

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English p ...

based on the author's experiences on Howick Island.

References

Islands on the Great Barrier Reef Uninhabited islands of Australia Islands of Far North Queensland Coral Sea Islands Places in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park {{Queensland-national-park-stub

Etymology

See also

References