A Brief History of Fraser Island.

• Fraser Island is located just south of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Known for thousands of years as K'gari or Paradise.
• Fraser Island is about 120 km long and ranges between 22 km at its widest point to 5 km wide.
• Captain James Cook first noted the island in 1770 presumed it to be part of the mainland and named it the Great Sandy Peninsula.
• Matthew Flinders came ashore over 200 years ago at Sandy Cape.
• Captain William Edwardson navigated the passage from Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay determining that the Great Sandy Peninsula was an island.
• A new name was given to the island in 1836 after the survivors of a shipwreck of the 'Stirling Castle' found their way ashore and the death of Captain Fraser.
• In 1863 the first Kauri logs were punted to the mills in Maryborough and Dundathu.
• Red Satinay was used around the world including sidings on the Suez Canal and docks in London. It was also used locally on the Urangan Jetty, with the bark left intact for protection against marine borers.
• 'Marloo' was shipwrecked on Orchid Beach in 1914.
• 'Maheno' beached north of Happy Valley in 1935.
• A fine layer of decomposing vegetation seals the basins formed by the sand dunes and creates its many perched lakes, some as much as 70 metres above sea level.