South Cumberland Islands is a national park in
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, 831 km northwest of
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
. 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 protected within the park include
(portion of) Keswick Island, St Bees Island, Cockermouth Island, and Scawfell Island (formerly named L Island), which is the largest in the group.
Scawfell Island
Scawfell Island (located at 20°52'S., 149°37'E., off the cost of Queensland, north-east of
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*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 Airport ...
) is officially regarded as the beginning of the
Whitsunday group. It was originally part of the Cumberland Isles Group identified by
Captain James Cook
Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...
in 1770, but was not named. The island is one of the Cumberland Isles, later known as Whitsundays, and is now part of the South Cumberland Islands. It was named "L Island" by
Matthew Flinders
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...
in September 1802, during his
circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first circumnaviga ...
of Australia in . It was later renamed as Scawfell Island in 1879, by Staff Commander E. P. Bedwell of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, who surveyed and named many islands of the Whitsundays in 1879 in
SS ''Llewellyn''. The name of the island originates from England's second highest peak,
Scafell
Scafell ( or ; also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has a height of , making it the second-highest mountain in England after its neighbour, Scafell Pike, from which i ...
, in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, which was then spelt "Scawfell".
The terrain of the island rises to a peak high, south-east of Duddon Point, the northern extremity of the island. The island lies and is a large
horseshoe
A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...
shape, with
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
cliffs along the coast. It is the largest national park island in the South Cumberland group, and is uninhabited. Large areas of
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
cover steep mountain slopes. There is a
coral
Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...
fringing reef.
Refuge Bay on Scawfell Island provides good anchorage and fishing is permitted here.
Bush camping is permitted on Scawfell Island but visitors must be self-sufficient, and a permit is required from
Queensland National Parks
Queensland is the second-largest state in Australia. As at 2020, it contained more than 1,000 protected areas. In August 2023, it was estimated a total of 14.5 million hectares or 8.38% of Queensland's landmass was protected.
List of terrestria ...
. Camping is at sheltered sites in Refuge Bay.
In February 2023, a report
[A new species of Phyllurus leaf-tailed gecko (Lacertilia: Carphodactylidae) from Scawfell Island, mid-east Queensland, Australia](_blank)
Conrad J Hoskin, Zootaxa, 2023-02-20[New species of leaf-tailed gecko discovered on Scawfell Island in Great Barrier Reef](_blank)
Julius Dennis, ABC News Online
ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...
, 2023-03-03 by Dr Conrad Hoskin reported the finding of the
Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko
''Phyllurus fimbriatus'', the Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko, is a large species of gecko endemic to mid-east Queensland, Australia.
Initially discovered during a survey of Scawfell Island from the 16th - 19th of November 2021, this species w ...
(''Phyllurus fimbriatus''), growing to 15 cm.
St Bees Island
St Bees Island is the 2nd largest island in the group , and is populated by a family living at Homestead Bay on the island.
See also
*
List of islands of Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by state or territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
Largest islands
The islands larger than are:
* Tasmania (Tas) ;
* Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT ...
*
Protected areas of Queensland
Queensland is the second-largest state in Australia. As at 2020, it contained more than 1,000 protected areas. In August 2023, it was estimated a total of 14.5 million hectares or 8.38% of Queensland's landmass was protected.
List of terrestria ...
References
{{authority control
National parks of Queensland
North Queensland
Islands of Queensland