Fraser Island
A History of Fraser Island | Tips for Travellers to Fraser Island
Fraser Island's Tourist Attractions | Lakes of Fraser Island | Tourism on Fraser Island

Fraser Island is an island off the southern coast of Queensland, Australia. It's no ordinary island - it is made entirely of sand, for a start. At 123km long, with an area of 184,000 hectares, it is the largest sand island in the world. This beautiful, amazing place contains several unique natural features, including perched lakes, sand-based rainforest and some amazing sand dunes with their associated ecosystems. Its uniqueness earned it World Heritage listing in 1992.

Fraser Island is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS, part of the Queensland Department of Environment) as the Fraser Island Recreation Area. Fraser Island is part of the Great Sandy Region (a National Park - the rest of it being on the nearby mainland around Cooloola) and is therefore fully protected. The southern part of the island is also protected under the Recreation Areas Management Act. Fraser Island is visited by more than half a million tourists annually.

Surrounding Regions

Fraser Island is on Australia's east coast in the state of Queensland, the country's second largest state. The top of Fraser Island almost touches the Tropic of Capricorn, keeping it nicely warm for most of the year.

The embayment between Fraser Island and the mainland is called Hervey Bay. The name Hervey Bay now also refers to the town on the mainland near Fraser Island - this town is the major service centre for the island and has visitor centres alongside the things you might expect to find in a normal town, most of which are unavailable on Fraser Island.

East and West Coasts

The East Coast of Fraser Island faces away from mainland Australia. Along most of its length is a sandy beach, also known as the main highway of the Island. The West Coast, on the other hand, does not provide safe vehicle access.

Climate

Climatic records have been kept for more than 100 years at the Sandy Cape Lighthouse, which is located in the northern part of Fraser Island. The average maximum temperature is 27 degrees Celcius, and the average minimum is 20 degrees Celcius. In summer temperature sometimes reach well into the 30s.

Rainfall varies around the island, but by Australian standards this is a wet place. Rainfall averages about 1200mm per annum at Sandy Cape, but is as high as 1800mm per annum at other locations in the island.

Residents

Fraser Island has few permanent residents. Most of the people living on the island are either rangers or tourist operators. As Fraser Island has few facilities, the residents have to travel to mainland Australia by barge for various reasons - such as education, medical appointments and some recreation. Until recently, one person had a monopoly on the barge carrying people to the mainland, and they charged a very high fee. A competitor came along and started charging lower fees; now the two are highly competitive and prices are much lower. This has really benefited the residents, who previously had to pay a lot of money just to go shopping!

Related Guide links

• Lakes of Fraser Island
• A History of Fraser Island
• Tourism on Fraser Island
• Fraser Island's Tourist Attractions
• Tips for Travellers to Fraser Island

Further Reading

Mark Moxon: Australia: Fraser Island