Hands up who’s never visited Fraser Island …. if you are sitting there with your hands in the air, what’s wrong with you! You really need to get off your butt and get yourself up to this amazing part of the country! You’ll find Fraser Island located off the east coast of Queensland, about 4 hours drive north of Brisbane. Covering an area of 184,000 hectares, it is the largest sand island in the world. But it’s more than just a bit of sand surrounded by water, it’s one of the most naturally beautiful places you’ll visit.
You’ll find some of the most beautiful lakes filled with crystal clear fresh water, ancient rainforests, long white beaches, coloured sand cliffs, shipwrecks and a splash of history thrown in.
Fun facts about Fraser Island
Fraser Island stretches over 123 km in length and 22 km across at it’s widest point.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.
Fraser Island is World Heritage Listed.
The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 meters above sea level.
Fraser Island is home to 40 perched dune lakes (which is half the number of perched lakes in the world!).
It’s said that over 350 species of birds live on Fraser Island.
The dingoes of Fraser Island are the most pure strain of dingoes remaining in eastern Australia.
Fraser Island is the only place in the world where rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of more than 200 meters.
75 Mile Beach is a gazetted highway and all normal road rules apply, and police do regularly patrol.
75 Mile Beach is also a runway and landing strip for light aircraft.
Fraser Island’s dunes have the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world.
At 200 hectares, Lake Boomanjin is the largest perched lake in the world.
Fraser Island is home to half of the world’s perched lakes.
How the island formed
An island like Fraser Island doesn’t just pop up overnight, it has been forming over many hundreds of thousands of years and is still evolving to this day. Many years ago the wind and ocean currents moved sands from all around the world and it began to accumulate in one place and formed an island, therefore Fraser Island is made up completely of sand. Over the years animal matter and debris started to form a base which then allowed plants to start growing. A sand dune is considered stable when plant colonies start to take root and you can see this towards the centre of the island, where you’ll find huge trees and rainforests growing in the more sheltered parts of the island.
Closer to the beach where the dunes are subjected to the more fierce weather elements you will see that they often only have a small covering of grasses and smaller plants that have learned to live with the constant battering of sand and wind.
Fraser Island Lakes
There are over 100 freshwater lakes on the island. The only area in Australia that has a higher concentration of lakes than Fraser Island is Tasmania. There are Perched lakes, Window lakes and Barrage lakes.
Perched lakes form when organic matter builds up in a depression in the dune. Leaves, dead plants, bark etc collects over time, slowly decomposing into the top layer of the sand and eventually forming a cement like crust which stops water from filtering through the sand. With the water being trapped it will eventually form a lake. Perched lakes are dependent on rainfall to maintain the water levels.
Fraser Island’s Lake Boomanjin is the largest perched lake in the world.
Barrage lakes form when moving sand dunes block off the path of a watercourse, creek or natural spring.
Window lakes form when a depression in the dunes exposes part of the regional water table. These lakes are generally found in dune depressions where the water table is higher than the ground surface level.
Fraser Island’s Lake Wabby is actually known as both a window lake and a barrage lake.
Whilst the lakes on Fraser Island are some of the most naturally stunning sights you’ll see, many of them hold nothing but water. Because of the purity and acidity of the water, they are not home to any creatures. There are a few lakes that do have fish and turtles living in them and a particular species of frog that have adapted to survive in an acidic and nutrient deficient environment.
Fraser Island History
Captain Matthew Flinders was one of the first white men to have contact with the islanders of Fraser Island in 1802.
In 1836 the ‘Stirling Castle’ was shipwrecked and after spending weeks in a lifeboat at sea, they landed on the island. The survivors lived on the island for a few weeks before being rescued. One of these was Eliza Fraser, the wife of the Captain, James Fraser. It was after Eliza, that Europeans named the island Fraser Island.
The Butchulla people are the indigenous people of Fraser Island and their traditional name for the island is K’gari (pronounced “gurri”), which means paradise. According to Butchulla legend, Fraser Island was named K’gari after the beautiful spirit who helped Yindingie, messenger of the great god Beeral, create the land. As a reward to K’gari for her help, Beeral changed her into an idyllic island with trees, flowers and lakes. He then added birds, animals and people onto the island to keep her company.
The island is now referred to as both “K’gari” and ‘Fraser Island” (and “Great Sandy National Park”), and whilst the Native Title rights were handed back to The Butchulla people in 2014, the day-to-day management of the island is primarily the responsibility of the Department of Environment and Heritage (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service).
Fraser Island Logging history
Logging is a huge part of the Fraser Island story. Due to the abundance of timber available and the quality of the pines, logging on Fraser Island ran for quite an extended period of time, first starting in 1863 and continuing until the end of 1991.
Logging initially started near Wanggoolba Creek by ‘Yankee Jack’ Piggott. In 1913 the first State Government Forestry Camp was set up at Bogimbah Creek, later moved to Wanggoolba Creek and in 1920 this moved to Central Station. In 1918 building began on the first and only timber mill on Fraser Island at the McKenzie’s Jetty site. McKenzie Ltd. was responsible for this mill, a jetty and a number of steam locomotives and tracks servicing its logging areas. When the Forestry Camp moved to Central Station, there were workers and their families living there and a community formed, including huts, houses and sheds, a school for the children and nurseries and vegetable gardens.
Nowadays Central Station is a camping and picnic area, but it also includes plenty of information on it’s former life as a logging camp.
Fraser Island’s WWII Connection
Many wouldn’t know, but Fraser Island played an important role in WWII.
The Fraser Commando School trained personnel for the highly secret ‘Z Force’. These personnel lived on the island and were trained to operate undercover behind enemy lines. The ruins of the training school are found on the western side of the island near Kingfisher Bay Resort.
The Maheno shipwreck, located on the eastern beach, was also used during the WWI as a target for explosives training.
We are George & Shelly, a married couple from Sydney, Australia, who love 4WDing, camping and travelling this great country of ours. We love sharing our adventures and hope to inspire others to travel as well. Join us on our journeys around Australia!
If you like what you read, please share our posts with family and friends and don’t forget to follow us on social media.
….. making memories one track at a time
-Proudly Sponsored by Cost Effective Maintenance-
Like it? Share it!
#4WD #4WDadventures #camping #CubBrumby #CamperTrailer #CubCampers #FraserIsland #ottfraser19 #FraserIsland2019 #OffTheTrack4x4 #Queensland #4WDing #offroad #CubCamper #beach