Dent Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

just off the coast of

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 ...

. Dent Island is located at . Dent Island is part of the Whitsunday Group and lies immediately west of Hamilton Island. The Whitsunday Group is one of the Island Groups that together comprise the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

(also known as the Greater Whitsunday Islands or Greater Whitsundays). The earliest charts of the Whitsunday area showed only one island, named 'Passage Island' where Dent Island and Hamilton Island currently lie. It was not until 1866, when Commander G. S. Nares,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, on , carried out a detailed survey of the northern waters of the Whitsunday Passage that the charts were amended to show two separate islands. Dent Island was named after Lieutenant Albert Dent of HMS ''Salamander''. Another small

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

island in Queensland is known locally as "Dent Island", It is located in the

Proserpine River The Proserpine River is a river in Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. Course The headwaters of the river rise below Mount Quandong in the Great Dividing Range and initially flow northwards while being fed by numerous creeks running fro ...

just downstream of the mouth of Saltwater Creek. It was given the name after the 33-ton steamer '' Ada Dent'', which shipwrecked and sank in deep water off

Lady Elliot Island Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately . It is part of the Capricorn and Bunker Group of islands and is owned by the Co ...

on 21 June 1907. Construction of the Hamilton Island Golf Club was completed on Dent Island and it was open to play from August 2009. This 18 hole golf course is operated by Hamilton Island. Designed by five times British Open winner

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

, the championship Par 71 course measures . Accessed by boat transfer from Hamilton Island it is billed as the only championship island golf course in Australia.

Lighthouse

In 1879 as part of a Government programme of improving navigational aids along the

coast, a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

was erected on the island, the first in the area. The lighthouse was converted to solar power in 1981 and destaffed in 1987.

References

{{Reflist Whitsunday Islands Islands of Queensland

Lighthouse

See also

References