Great Sandy National Park
- Introduction
- Fact file
- A look at the past
- Aboriginal culture
- Natural features
- Native plants
- Wildlife
- NQIS (07) 3227 8185
- Park ranger (07) 4127 9191
- QPWS Tewantin (07) 5449 7792
- SEE Fraser Island’s coloured sands on eastern beach
- VISIT the beautiful Aquarium Pools on Fraser Island
- TAKE a boat tour through Cooloola’s everglades
- PADDLE a canoe along the Noosa River
Introduction
Great Sandy National Park encompasses World Heritage-listed Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world; nearby Woody Island; and Cooloola on the mainland. Fraser has beautiful beaches, giant dunes, lush rainforests, crystal-clear creeks and freshwater lakes while Cooloola, and the wilderness area of Woody Island, offer a scenic experience among open forests and fringing mangroves, placid waterways and coloured sands. Fraser Island, the most well-known section of the park, is the biggest island off Australia’s east coast. Woody Island lies in the Great Sandy Strait. The Cooloola section protects the headwaters of the Noosa River and the largest remnant of coastal vegetation on southern Queensland’s mainland.
Fact file
Access
Cooloola: from Noosa via 4WD or boat. Fraser Island: from Rainbow Beach to Inskip Point then via vehicular barges; or passenger launches, aircraft or private boats; 4WD only on island. Access to Woody Island is by private boat only
Best Season
All seasons
Location
200 km north of Brisbane (Cooloola); 250 km north of Brisbane or 40 km east of Hervey Bay and Maryborough (Fraser Island); Woody Island is 5 km east of Urangan
Park Information
Permits
Camping permit required; vehicle permit required for Fraser Island; contact QPWS Rainbow Beach (07) 5486 3160, or 13 1304 or online.
Size
220 000 ha (Fraser 184 000 ha; Cooloola 56 000 ha)
Where to Stay
Cooloola 1800 444 222 Fraser Coast (07) 4122 3444 Noosa (07) 5447 4988
A look at the past
Fraser Island was originally known as Great Sandy Island. Although first sighted by James Cook in 1770 then by Matthew Flinders some 19 years later, it was Eliza Fraser’s rescue from the island in 1936 that has become the island’s most famous piece of European history. The logging of forests began on the island in 1863, continuing until the early 1990s. The mid-20th century saw small-scale mining for heavy minerals such as rutile and zircon then in the 1960s sandmining, forestry and future development became increasingly controversial, both on Fraser Island and the Cooloola coast. The conservationists finally won the battle, paving the way for the island’s listing as a World Heritage area in 1992.Some scattered pastoral activity took place in Cooloola in the 1850s but it was short-lived. Logging began along the Noosa River in 1864 and along Kin Kin Creek in 1865. Queensland kauri logs, cut from the northern parts of Cooloola, formed the bulk of supplies for the Dundathu sawmill near Maryborough for around thirty years. In 1870 a sawmill was established on Lake Cootharaba to reap the giant cedar trees along the Noosa River. The 1867 Gympie gold rush caused a brief flurry of mining activity but by the end of the 1800s most timber-getting had ceased. After its resurgence in the mid-20th century, and the subsequent battle over the environment, Cooloola National Park was declared in 1975.
Aboriginal culture
The Indigenous groups living on Fraser Island and the adjacent mainland were members of the Badtjala nation. People from the Butchulla tribe inhabited Fraser Island. In the 1860s the island became a quarantine and immigration station for ships bringing in supplies and men to the nearby goldfields at Gympie, heralding the dispossession of tribal lands. The Aboriginal tribes of the Cooloola area were the Dulingbara and Kabi, who were virtually wiped out by diseases introduced by Europeans arriving in the area from the late 1840s onwards.In 1897 the Bogimbah mission was set up on Fraser and the remaining Badtjala were incarcerated there (their numbers had been reduced from around 2000 when Europeans arrived to less than 400). In 1904 the mission closed and most of the people were moved to Yarrabah near Cairns. Middens, artefact scatters, stone tools, scarred trees and campsites on Fraser Island are reminders of the original inhabitants. Today descendants of the Badtjala in Hervey Bay and on Fraser have a strong affiliation to the land.
Natural features
Fraser Island is famous for its giant dunes, some reaching 230 metres high, and its magnificent sand cliffs – coloured yellow, brown, orange and red by centuries of iron oxides leaching down into the sands. Giant sand blows, the mobile dunes that continually move and regenerate, are a feature of the landscape, with the Knifeblade Sandblow the largest. The island is also distinguished by its 40 perched dune lakes, of which Lake Boomanjin, at 200 hectares, is the largest in the world. Ringed by white sandy beaches, the water in these freshwater lakes varies in colour, from the sparkling blue of Lake McKenzie to the reddish-brown of Lake Boomanjin, stained by tannins leached from the surrounding plants. Regardless of colour, the water is some of the purest drinking water in the world. Cooloola’s varied landscape has the magnificent sweep of the 50-kilometre Teewah Beach, backed by high sand dunes, mangrove-lined waterways, forest, heath, some perched freshwater dune lakes and coastal lakes. The scenic waterways of the upper Noosa River are one of the area’s most outstanding features. Here are the Noosa everglades, where tannins from paperbarks and bloodwoods colour the waters a dark red–black. As a consequence, the reflections of straggly swamp box, bloodwood trees and ferns that fringe the river are extraordinary.
Native plants
Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforest grows in sand. In Yidney Scrub huge Queensland kauri pines dominate the rainforest while Pile Valley has rough-barked satinays, some more than 1000 years old. Elsewhere there is brush box and hundreds of airy piccabeen palms, vines and ferns. Threatened and primitive plant species find refuge around the lakes and remnant heathlands – the island boasts the most extensive wallum heath remnants in Queensland. Eli Creek, a large freshwater stream, is fringed with pandanus. Cooloola supports open forests with blackbutts and tallowwoods, paperbark forests and woodlands around its lakes and wetlands, rainforest, and coastal heaths that provide magnificent wildflower displays in spring, including red and yellow Christmas bells, pink boronia, wedding bush and fragile native orchids.
Wildlife
Few large native animals live on Fraser Island. Apart from the humpback whales that frequent Hervey Bay from July to November, most of the 25 mammals recorded are small and include nocturnal residents such as brushtail possums, sugar gliders and ying-foxes. Wild dingoes, unlike those on the mainland that have interbred with domestic dogs, are genetically pure. Island birds (around 200 species) include Australian king-parrots, yellow-tailed black-cockatoos, sulphur-crested cockatoos, kingfi shers, honeyeaters, robins and white-bellied sea-eagles. Dugongs inhabit the waters off the south-west coast, while bottlenose dolphins are sometimes seen during the barge crossing. Freshwater turtles live in the lakes; Krefft’s river turtle is often seen floating about near the edge of Lake Allom. The swamps are a refuge for acid frogs, so-called for their resilience in the highly acidic waters of the wetlands.In Cooloola, again most wildlife is small in size. Dingoes patrol the whole park while platypuses live in the upper reaches of the river. Eastern grey kangaroos are sometimes sighted on the grasslands in the north-west. Ground parrots and acid frogs are vulnerable species, while among the more unusual creatures is the second largest cockroach in the world. The sand monitor is often seen stretched out in the sun along low-lying logs beside the river.In the open forests sulphur-crested cockatoos and kingfishers are prolific, while the rainforest resounds with the calls of pigeons and whipbirds. Brush-turkeys are a more common sight, scratching around amid the leaf litter. Along the coast and estuaries you are sure to see kites, white-bellied sea-eagles, pied oyster-catchers and majestic pelicans. There is a bird hide at the northern end of picturesque Lake Cootharaba, at the Sir Thomas Hiley Centre near Kinaba Island.
Featured Activities in the National Park
Introduction
Before visiting Great Sandy National Park, stop at the QPWS centre in Tewantin for permits and information on walks and picnic areas within the park. In holiday periods, there are slide shows, ranger-led tours by spotlight and guided walks on Fraser Island. Swimming in the sea is not advised as the beaches are not patrolled and the currents are wild and dangerous. Sharks are also common and bluebottles are prevalent during northerly winds. Swimming is possible in the freshwater lakes on Fraser Island – Lake McKenzie is an ideal spot. There are severe fines for feeding dingoes or leaving food or rubbish where it may attract them; visitors should be aware that these are wild animals and there have been fatal attacks in the past.
Boat tours and canoeing
One of the best ways to see Cooloola is by boat tour, dingy or canoe along the numerous tributaries of the Noosa River. Canoes can be hired from Elanda Point; canoe-launching sites are located at Elanda Point and Harrys Hut camping area. A tour of the river’s everglades is not to be missed. The stunning reflections are an unexpected visual delight.
Bushwalking
Fraser Island has extensive and well-marked walking trails, ranging from several short boardwalks through rainforests to strolls around a lake or longer walks across a sand blow. Wanggoolba Creek boardwalk, fringed with ferns and palms, is located at Central Station. Rainbow Gorge Circuit (1.9 km, 1 hour, easy–moderate) leads from the eastern beach through cypress pines to the coloured sands of Rainbow Gorge. Long distance walkers will enjoy the Fraser Island Great Walk (90 km), with walkers’ camps along the way. The numerous walks in the Cooloola section include several that start from Elanda Point on the shore of Lake Cootharaba, and four that begin at Harrys Hut camping ground. Boronia walking track (2.5 km) along Kin Kin Creek reveals the life of cedar cutters who worked in this area from the 1860s to the 1890s. In the north, a 2.7-kilometre circuit takes you around Freshwater Lake from the carpark. Poona Lake Walk (4.2 km return) leaves from Bymien picnic area and leads through melaleuca woodlands, scribbly gum forests and pockets of rainforest. There are no marked trails on Woody Island.
Fishing
Fraser Island has long been renowned for its excellent fi shing. The beaches on the east coast of the island draw keen anglers for silver bream, mulloway and golden trevally, but more particularly for the huge schools of tailor that pass by on their annual migration north between July and October. In the sheltered waters of Great Sandy Strait the target fish are barramundi, garfish, red emperor, mangrove jack, bream and sand whiting. At Cooloola, the fishing along Teewah Beach includes catches of whiting, bream and flathead, while inland river fi shing is also popular. A fishing licence is not required for fishing in the tidal waters but size and bag limits apply. Call Queensland Fisheries (07) 3225 1843 or visit their website (www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb) for details.
Four-wheel driving
Fraser Island is a major 4WD beach-driving destination. Seventy-Five Mile Beach is a busy 4WD highway of sand, leading past spectacularly coloured sand cliffs, particularly impressive in the vicinity of Cathedral Beach, or stop and walk to Rainbow Gorge. Inland tracks on the island can be soft and sandy and a speed limit of 35 kilometres per hour is recommended.At Cooloola, Teewah Beach is a straight 40 to 50-kilometre stretch of sand, easy at low tide (you must travel at this time so check the tides before departure). Do not drive on the vegetated dunes. The beach is ideal for beachcombing, camping, fishing and for marvelling at the coloured cliff-faces, and sculptured sands of Red Canyon, where iron oxides have stained the cliffs to vibrant dusty browns through yellows to crimson reds. The inland tracks of Cooloola have soft sandy sections.
Shipwrecks
Two wrecks lie sand-locked on the beaches of the national park and are especially fascinating in the soft early morning light, which turns them rustic gold. These skeletal hulls are a photographer’s delight. On Fraser, the Maheno lies just north of the mouth of Eli Creek. It was hit by a cyclone in 1935 while being towed to Japan for scrap metal. At the northern end of Teewah Beach on the Cooloola coast lies the Cherry Venture, which ran aground in a violent storm in 1973.
Whale-watching
Although outside Great Sandy National Park, Hervey Bay hugs the west coast of Fraser Island and humpback whales visit these waters from July through to early November. Australia’s premier whale-watching location, Hervey Bay Marine Park protects these magnificent animals. About 20 operators run tours from Urangan pier, on the west side of the bay, at the height of the season.
Campsites
Central Station camping area (walk-in camping)
Fraser Island Great Walk (walk-in camping)
The 90 km Fraser Island Great Walk from Hook Point to Lake Garawongera takes 6–8 days to complete. Walkers’ camps and beach camping are available at numerous locations. There are no facilities at most... Find out moreGarry’s Anchorage camping area
Lake Boomanjin camping area (walk-in camping)
Valley of the Giants camping area
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