Lizard is an offshore

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

consisting of a number of islands in the

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, ...

area of the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

within the

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It includes

Lizard Island Lizard Island, also known as Jiigurru or Dyiigurra, is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island, Queensland, Palfrey Island, and ...

. In the , Lizard had a population of 65 people.

Geography

The locality consists of many island groups and islands. Being in the Great Barrier Reef area, there are many coral reefs with low-lying islands (known as coral cays) which can develop or erode over time. Consequently many are unnamed or poorly documented. The named features are listed in the table, from north to south. There are three national parks within the locality: *

Lizard Island National Park Lizard Island, also known as Jiigurru or Dyiigurra, is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island, and also part of the Lizard Isl ...

* Turtle Group National Park * Three Islands Group National Park, which includes islands offshore of the neighbouring locality of Hope Vale

History

The locality takes its name from

, the largest island in the locality. The island was named on 12 August 1770 by Lieutenant

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, commander of

HMS Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his First voyage of James Cook, first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as t ...

, with the comment "...the only land animals we saw here were lizards".

Heritage listings

Mrs Watson's Cottage on Lizard Island is listed on the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

Demographics

In the , Lizard had a population of 49 people. In the , Lizard had a population of 65 people.

Education

There are no schools in Lizard nor nearby. The options are

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and boarding school.

Transport

Lizard Island Airport is on Lizard Island ().

References

{{Shire of Cook Shire of Cook Localities in Queensland