| Great Sandy National Park Queensland | |
|---|---|
 The Cathedral coloured sands | |
  Great Sandy National Park | |
| Nearest town or city | Hervey Bay |
| Coordinates | 25°02′43″S153°12′36″E / 25.04528°S 153.21000°E |
| Established | 1971 |
| Area | 2,195.55 km2 (847.7 sq mi) |
| Visitation | 1,118,000 (in 2012 [1] ) |
| Managing authorities | Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service |
| See also | Protected areas of Queensland |
Great Sandy National Park is a coastal national park in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. [2]
The park features untouched beaches, large sand dunes, heathlands, rainforests, swamps, creeks, freshwater lakes and mangrove forests.
Great Sandy National Park is divided into two sections. The Cooloola Recreation Area section is situated on the coast between Noosa Heads in the south and Rainbow Beach in the north and covers 184,000 hectares (450,000 acres). The K'Gari section (formerly known as Fraser Island) encompasses almost all of the world's largest sand island, which is situated north of Rainbow Beach, covering 56,000 hectares (140,000 acres).
The land within the park is classified by BirdLife International as the Cooloola and Fraser Coast Important Bird Area because it supports a large population of black-breasted buttonquails as well as many bush and beach stone-curlews, green catbirds, regent bowerbirds, mangrove honeyeaters, and pale-yellow robins. [3] Cooloola is also home to the eastern ground parrot and has one of the last coastal populations of the emu. [4]
The Cooloola section contains the Cooloola Great Walk, a five-day hiking trail. Boat tours and canoeing along the Noosa River are popular visitor activities. On Fraser Island is the 90 km long Fraser Island Great Walk. [5] Lake Cootharaba offers fishing, sailing, and canoeing opportunities.
Whale watching, fishing, four-wheel driving, and bushwalking are also popular. The park also features two shipwrecks; the SS Maheno and the Cherry Venture . [6]
The only place in the world where tall rainforest grows in sand is on K'Gari (formerly known as Fraser Island). [6] The sand island has coloured sand cliffs on its eastern beach and numerous walking tracks from short boardwalks to longer walks, which cross sand blows.
K'Gari also has more than 100 freshwater lakes including the largest perched lake in the world, Lake Boomanjin. [7] Lake Wabby is a popular swimming and fishing spot. [8]
A unique feature of Great Sandy National Park is the coloured sands, which are formed by old sand mixed with clay into a consolidated mass. The visible hues include red, brown, and yellow, which are a reflection of the iron-rich minerals embedded in the sands for thousands of years and brought to the surface by wind and water eroding the land. [9]
Access to Fraser Island ideally requires a high-clearance 4WD vehicle. [10] Parts of the Cooloola section are also inaccessible without a four-wheel drive. Vehicles entering the park need to obtain a vehicle permit for both Fraser Island and the Cooloola Recreational Area. Both sections have numerous camping areas.
Permits are required to camp in the park. About 15 camp sites are in the Cooloola section. [6] Only electric motors and non-motorised vessels are permitted past Campsite 3. [11]
Fines are issued for feeding Fraser Island's wild dingo population or leaving food or rubbish that may attract them. [6]
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.
Noosa National Park is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 121 km north of Brisbane. It is situated near Noosa Heads between the Pacific Ocean and the Sunshine Coast's northern area of urban development and extends southwards, past Lake Weyba to Coolum.
K'gari, also known by its former name Fraser Island, is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately 250 km (160 mi) north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fraser Coast Region local government area. The world heritage listing includes the island, its surrounding waters and parts of the nearby mainland which make up the Great Sandy National Park. In the 2021 census, the island had a population of 152 people. Up to 500,000 people visit the island each year.
The Sunshine Coast is a peri-urban region in South East Queensland, Australia. It is the district defined in 1967 as "the area contained in the Shires of Landsborough, Maroochy and Noosa, but excluding Bribie Island". Located 100 km (62 mi) north of the centre of Brisbane in South East Queensland, on the Coral Sea coastline, its urban area spans approximately 60 km (37 mi) of coastline and hinterland from Pelican Waters to Tewantin.
The Great Sandy Strait is a strait in the Australian state of Queensland of 70 kilometres (43 mi) length which separates mainland Queensland from K'gari. It is also a locality in the Fraser Coast Region local government area. To the north of the strait is Hervey Bay. In the 2021 census, Great Sandy Strait had "no people or a very low population".
Rainbow Beach is a coastal rural town and locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Rainbow Beach had a population of 1,220 people.
Lake Cootharaba is a lake on the Noosa River within the locality of Noosa North Shore in the Shire of Noosa, Queensland, Australia. It is the gateway to the Everglades, a popular tourist attraction for Noosa, being 20 km away from Noosa. The lake's major access is the town of Boreen Point, as well as the smaller camping-spot of Elanda Point.
Cooloola is a coastal locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Cooloola had "no people or a very low population".
Como is a rural locality in the Shire of Noosa, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Como had a population of 54 people.
Teewah Beach is a beach that extends from Double Island Point in Cooloola, Gympie Region through Noosa North Shore in the Shire of Noosa to the Noosa River in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Great Sandy National Park. The beach extends from approximately 25°56'11"S, 153°11'18"E to 26°22'44"S, 153°04'38"E, a distance of about 51 kilometres.
The Noosa River is a river situated in South East Queensland. The catchment starts in the Como Escarpment near Mount Elliott in the coastal Great Sandy National Park and meanders south through a lakes district around Tewantin.
The K'gari Great Walk is a long-distance walking track on K'gari, Queensland, Australia. Hikers should be fully self-sufficient and to carry sufficient water. The walk is rated easy to moderate on a difficulty scale being mostly at sea level and is traversed in one direction.
Lake Wabby is a small freshwater, green colored lake. It is located in the Great Sandy National Park on the eastern side of K'gari off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The lake is directly adjacent to the Hammerstone Sandblow, which is slowly moving into the lake. Eventually it will disappear under the sand.
The Cooloola Great Walk is a 102 kilometres (63 mi) coastal bushwalking route in the Great Sandy National Park of South East Queensland, Australia. Opened in 2010, it runs from Noosa North Shore through Cooloola to Rainbow Beach, and is planned as a five-day trek. The hiking trail was officially opened by Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones in March 2010.
Sandy Cape is the most northern point on Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The place was named Sandy Cape for its appearance by James Cook during his 1770 voyage up the eastern coast of Australia aboard the Endeavour.
Wide Bay–Burnett is a region of the Australian state of Queensland, located between 170–400 km (110–250 mi) north of the state capital, Brisbane. The area's population growth has exceeded the state average over the past 20 years, and it is forecast to grow to more than 430,000 by 2031. It is the subject of the Draft Wide Bay–Burnett Regional Plan, which aims to facilitate this growth while protecting over 90% of the region from urban development.
The Cooloola Tramway is a heritage-listed tramway at Great Sandy National Park, Cooloola Recreation Area, Cooloola, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 1870s it was known as the Kaloola Railway. It is also known as Cooloola Railway, SEQ-5N 22, Pettigrew's Railway, and Pettigrew's Tramway. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 12 July 2013.
The Butchulla, also written Butchella, Badjala, Badjula, Badjela, Bajellah, Badtjala and Budjilla, are an Aboriginal Australian people of K'gari, Queensland, and a small area of the nearby mainland of southern Queensland.
Tinnanbar is a coastal town and a locality in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Tinnanbar had a population of 64 people.
Lake Boomanjin is a large perched lake in the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The lake is located on Fraser Island in the Great Sandy National Park.
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