The Brook Islands National Park is a national park in

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire ...

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, 1246 km northwest 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 ...

, with an area of 0.9 km². It was established in 1994 and comprises three islands (North, Tween and Middle) which lie off the coast 7 km north-east of Cape Richards on

Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island (or Pouandai to the Biyaygiri people) is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow H ...

and 30 km east of the nearest mainland town of Cardwell. The fourth island of the Brooks group, South Island, is not part of the national park but is protected by the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

. Public access to the three islands in the national park is prohibited in order to protect breeding birds, especially the Torresian imperial-pigeon. The islands have no roads, walking tracks or other facilities. Popular activities in the waters around the islands are boating, snorkelling and fishing. The islands are managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The Park's IUCN category is II.Lavarack, P.; & Muldoon, J.W. (1999). ''Management Plans - Brook Islands National Park and Goold Island National Park''. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service: Brisbane.
PDF download

Fauna

Up to 60,000 pied imperial-pigeons breed on the islands during summer, providing a spectacle to onlookers as they return to their nests each evening after foraging for rainforest fruits in the mainland and Hinchinbrook Island. Following regular illegal shooting of the birds there during the early and mid 20th Century, the population using the islands was subject to a long protection campaign and monitoring program by conservation activists Margaret and Arthur Thorsborne. There are also breeding colonies of bridled, black-naped, little, lesser crested and roseate terns.

Beach stone-curlew The beach stone-curlew (''Esacus magnirostris'') also known as beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia. At and , it is one of the world's largest shorebirds. At a mean of in ...

s breed on North Island beaches. The islands have been classified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because of the global importance of the site for pied imperial-pigeons and lesser crested terns.

History

Brook Island, the largest in the group, was in 1944 the venue for a series of British and American tests on the military uses of mustard gas. A documentary film Keen as Mustard, relating to these and other tests, was released by Film Australia in 1989.

References

External links

Brook Islands National Park
National parks of Queensland Islands of Queensland Protected areas established in 1994 Important Bird Areas of Queensland North Queensland Islands of Far North Queensland {{Queensland-national-park-stub

Fauna

History

See also

References

External links