Green Island - Cairns Queensland Australia

Green Island is 27 km offshore from Cairns in North Queensland. Most visitors travel to Green Island on commercial charter boats from Cairns. Commercial charter boats depart from the Reef Fleet Terminal at the end of Spence Street. Travel time to the island varies between 50 and 60 mins.
Commercial helicopter and seaplane services also operate to and from the island.

The island and reef are part of the traditional sea country of the Guru-Gulu Gungandji Aboriginal people. They know the island as Wunyami. Today the Guru-Gulu Gungandji people maintain a close connection with the island.
Green Island has been a popular tourist destination for more than a century. The island became a national park in 1937, a marine park in 1974 and part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in 1981. The surrounding waters form part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Great Barrier Reef Coast Marine Park and are within in the Scientific Research (Orange) or Marine National Park (Green) zones.

Green Island resort offers facilities for day visitors as well as luxury overnight accommodation.

Green Island draws more than 300,000 people each year from all over the world. Due to this high level of visitation Green Island is important to the regional economic base and is a significant recreation and tourism destination in the region.

Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsundays 74 Island Wonders, located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, on the tropical coast of Queensland, Australia.
with the area being one of the most popular yachting destinations in the Southern Hemisphere.
Explore from the bow of a sailboat… cruise through the islands and drop anchor for a quick snorkel and wake up to a sunrise over world famous Whitehaven Beach. Or enjoy the spoils of a mainland resort with Coral Sea views at Airlie Beach, yet another 74 island wonder.

The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres (560 mi) north of Brisbane.
The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island.

The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro People and the Gia People (Birri Gubba Language Group), the Juru Clan of which has the only recognised Native Title in the Region

Queensland and Queenslanders

People from the southern states of Australia sometimes refer to Queensland as "The Deep North", in allusion to the Deep South of the United States and the socio-political stereotype associated with it. This was notably the case during the 1970s and early 1980s, when Joh Bjelke-Petersen was Premier, and again in the 1990s, when Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party from Queensland became a significant force in Australian politics.





The rivalry between the states of New South Wales and Queensland goes back over 100 years, stemming from the attitude that New South Wales was the "Mother Colony" while Queensland was viewed as a poorer cousin.

A Deep North Stereotype

This rivalry has been played out through sport over the years. In Queensland there has been a general ill-feeling over the number of sports people leaving their home state for New South Wales, particularly rugby league football players who left to play for the richer Sydney clubs. These players would then play against Queensland in interstate matches. In 1980, as a solution to this problem, the Rugby League State of Origin was created to allow Queensland players to play for their original state. This sporting contest played three times a year now exemplifies this rivalry, dominating the media and public attention in those two states during the series.

A Queenslander is born of the festering hatred, resentment, jealousy and perceived injustice, done to them by New South Wales Rugby League (blues), through out history, only those who have been crushed beneath a tyrannical oppressor's heel, can truly know this feeling.

Ah mate here we go a bloody ‘gain

The Blues are whinging and they’re crying

It makes you flaming sick ya know

But it’s a trick we just ain’t buying.

They reckon they have rookies

Who will never make the grade

We know they never had a chance

No matter who they bloody played.

The time draws near, they start to shake

That self doubt will rise again

It will grow on their subconscious

And play havoc with their brain.

Take note how people that you work with

Start avoiding all your crew

Then you realise what is happening

Their skin is turning slimy blue.

Mate this is State Of Origin

It’s a feeling you can’t hide

That tingling through your body

That unbending Queensland pride.

Your guts begin a churning

The sweat pours from your brow.

There is no sitting on the fence

It’s time to take that Queensland vow.

And the Blues they just don’t get it

They can’t understand that pride

How we can love this state so much

Just how we feel deep down inside.

The battle lines are slowly drawn

You know just what I mean

You are either with us or against us

There is bugger all in between.

So bring it on you Roaches

Feel the hatred and the fear

The battle ground will run with blood

Then you will hear our victory cheer.

“QUEENSLANDER”

Fraser Island Queensland K'gari paradise

Fraser Islands 75 mile beach Highway

Fraser Island gives visitors, the opportunity to observe a ‘real Australian dingo’, whether up close, or from the window of a tour bus. There is never a dull moment, when dingoes venture out onto the pristine beach's of Fraser Island.

Fraser Island  was once called 'K'gari' in the Butchulla people's language (pronounced 'Gurri'). It means paradise.
According to Aboriginal legend, when humans were created and needed a place to live, the mighty god Beiral sent his messenger Yendingie with the goddess K’gari down from heaven to create the land and mountains, rivers and sea. K’gari fell in love with the earth’s beauty and did not want to leave it. So Yendingie changed her into a heavenly island – Fraser Island.

Aboriginal people regarded dingoes as being equal to man

Archaeological research and evidence shows that Aboriginal Australians occupied Fraser Island at least 5000 years ago. There was a permanent population of 400-600 that grew to 2000-3000 in the winter months due to abundant seafood resources. The arrival of European settlers in the area was an overwhelming disaster for the Butchulla people. European settlement in the 1840s overwhelmed the Aboriginal lifestyle with weapons, disease and lack of food. By the year 1890, Aboriginal numbers had been reduced to only 300 people. Most of the remaining Aborigines, the Butchulla tribe, left the island in 1904 as they were relocated to missions in Yarrabah and Durundur, Queensland. It is estimated that up to 500 indigenous archaeological sites are located on the island.

The dingo was so sacred and revered, that Aboriginal women nursed dingo pups from their own breasts.

Fraser Island is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) and its width is approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi). It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². It is also Queensland's largest island, Australia's sixth largest island and the largest island on the East Coast of Australia.

Fraser Island has over 100 freshwater lakes, as well as the second highest concentration of lakes in Australia after Tasmania. The freshwater lakes on Fraser Island are some of the cleanest lakes in the world.

Fraser Island Lake McKenzie

Mammals found on Fraser Island include swamp wallabies, echidnas, ringtail and brush tail possums, sugar gliders, squirrel gliders, phascogales, bandicoots, potoroos, flying foxes and dingoes. The Swamp Wallaby finds protection from dingos in the swampy areas which have dense undergrowth. There are 19 species of bats which live on or visit Fraser Island.

Estimates of the number of visitors to the island each year range from 350,000 to 500,000. The chance of seeing a dingo in its natural setting is one of the main reasons people visit the island.


How to get there

Follow the Maryborough - Hervey Bay Road from Maryborough. Continue past the Bundaberg turn off on the left, and turn right into Booral Road. Continue past the General Store and reach the waterfront. Look for the Kingfisher Bay Resort Barge. Bookings have to be made in advance.