Capricornia Cays is both a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

and a scientific national park in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

), located 486 km and 472 km north of the state capital

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

respectively. Collectively they comprise 241 ha of

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...

s. Popular recreational activities in the park includes bird, whale and turtle watching as well as camping, walking, swimming, boating, snorkelling and diving. Capricornia Cays National Park is noted for its

biological diversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') lev ...

, beauty and for provided habitat for a number of endangered plants and animals. In particular the cays are recognized as having the largest breeding population of endangered

loggerhead turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when full ...

s in the South Pacific. Access to the islands via boat is available from

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...

and

1770 Events January– March * January 1 – The foundation of Fort George, Bombay is laid by Colonel Keating, principal engineer, on the site of the former Dongri Fort. * February 1 – Thomas Jefferson's home at Shadwell, Virgi ...

Birds

The cays form an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

because they support more than 1% of the world populations of black noddies (with up to 300,000 nests) and

wedge-tailed shearwater The wedge-tailed shearwater (''Ardenna pacifica'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and ...

s (up to 560,000 nests), making up the majority of the east Australian breeding populations of these species, and sometimes more than 1% of the world population of

brown boobies The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brow ...

(1000-4000 nests). Seasonal closures in some areas is imposed to protect breeding seabirds.

Molluscs

233 mollusc species have been recorded from the islands.

The cays

Capricornia Cays National Park protects eight vegetated coral cays in the Capricorn and Bunker group of islands of the southern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

: *

Erskine Island Erskine Island is a small coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef, located 60 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland and 17 km west-south-west of Heron Island. It is part of the Capricornia Cays National Park and of the Capr ...

* Heron Island (eastern half) *

Lady Musgrave Island Lady Musgrave Island is a coral cay on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, with a surrounding reef. The island is the second southernmost island in the Great Barrier Reef chain of islands (with the first (southernmost) being Lady Elliot Island). T ...

- Open for visiting, capable of 40 campers. * Masthead Island - Open for visiting, capable of 60 campers; however, this is limited to 30 from October to March each year to allow a less disrupted egg-laying ground for turtles. *

North West Island North West Island is a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef, located 75 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. North West Island forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park and with an area of 1.05 km2, the island is th ...

- Open for visiting, capable of 150 campers. * Tryon Island - Currently closed to public access due to a tree infection, the island has the capacity for 30 campers. * Wilson Island The cays are completely built by corals. The area is also of significance as a fishery, particularly for king prawns These eight islands are part of the

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and all surrounded by reefs. Vegetation on the cays is dominated by the flowering tree species, ''

Pisonia grandis ''Pisonia grandis'', the grand devil's-claws, is a species of flowering tree in the ''Bougainvillea'' family, Nyctaginaceae. Description The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling flowers that matur ...

''. A further six cays form Capricornia Cays National Park (Scientific): * One Tree Island * Wreck Island *

Fairfax Islands Fairfax Islands is a pair of small coral cays, both of which have been used as a bombing range. They are located near the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Great Barrier Reef, due east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and north of the ...

, (East Fairfax & West Fairfax) * Hoskyn Islands (East and West Hoskyn islands) There is no public access to these cays.

Scientific National Park fact sheet

*''Area:'' 0.44 km² *''

Coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

'': *''Managing authorities:'' Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service *''

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

category:'' Ia

References

External links