Moreton Island National park, QLD, signpost

Gheebulum Kunungai (Moreton Island) is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

which covers 98% of Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) 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 , establishe ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, 58km northeast of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. It has three main townships, Bulwer, Cowan Cowan and Kooringal. The island is home to Queensland's oldest operating

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 m ...

located at

Cape Moreton Cape Moreton is a rocky headland at the north eastern tip of Moreton Island in South East Queensland, Australia. The surrounding area is part of the Moreton Island National Park. Flinders Reef is north-west of Cape Moreton. The outcrop is mos ...

on the northern tip of the island. The township of Cowan was home to the Australian soldiers during WWII and many relics remain on the island. Access to the park was restricted during a clean-up of oil from the

2009 southeast Queensland oil spill The 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill occurred off the coast of southeast Queensland, Australia on 11 March 2009, when 230 tonnes of fuel oil, 30 tonnes of other fuel and 31 shipping containers containing 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate spille ...

. Activities such as bushwalking, fishing and watersports are popular in the park.

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

can be seen in surrounding waters between late winter and spring. In 2021 Moreton Island National Park was renamed to Gheebulum Coonungai National Park following the transfer of Moreton Island (Mulgumpin)'s ownership from the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

back to the native

Quandamooka People The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton and North Stradb ...

. The names ''Gheebulum'' and ''Coonungai'' are the Quandamooka name of two spiritually significant sand hills within the national park.

Flora

The park contains mostly heath and open forests of scribbly gum and pink bloodwood, as well as the coastal she-oak. Other areas contain

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal 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 evolution in severa ...

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

and

melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

swamps.

Access

Access to the island is via the MICAT vehicle ferry service from Lytton, near the

Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane is the shipping port and coastal suburb of the City of Brisbane, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. In the , Port of Brisbane had no residents living in the suburb. The port is the largest in the state of Queensland. ...

, the ''Tangalooma Flyer'' launched from

Pinkenba Pinkenba is a town and eastern coastal suburb within the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Pinkenba had a population of 368 people. Geography Pinkenba is a long narrow strip of land on the northern side of the Brisbane River ...

or the ''Kooringal Trader'' from

Amity Point Amity is a rural town and locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Amity had a population of 387 people. It is known as ''Pulan Pulan'' by the traditional owners, the Quandamooka people. Geography Amity ...

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was onl ...

. The ''Combie Trader'' barge service from Scarborough in Redcliffe City to Bulwer no longer operates.

Camping

Camping is permitted in specified campsites as well as within zones along eastern and western beaches.

References

External links

* National parks of South East Queensland Protected areas established in 1966 1966 establishments in Australia {{Queensland-national-park-stub

Flora

Access

Camping

See also

References

External links