The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, situated between just south of Bowen

Bowen, Queensland

Bowen is a town on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bowen had a population of 7,484.-Geography:Bowen is located on the north-east coast of Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. In fact, the twentieth parallel crosses the main street...

 and to the north of Mackay

Mackay, Queensland

Mackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....

, some 900 kilometres (559.2 mi) north of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island

Whitsunday Island

Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. Whitsunday Island is located at...

, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island. The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro People.

Naming

The term is a mis-nomer, based as it is on Captain Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

’s naming of what is now known as the Whitsunday Passage (in Cook’s Journal, Whitsunday’s Passage) in the belief that the passage was discovered on Whitsunday whereas, because of an error in time-keeping, it was actually Whit-Monday.

Contention has existed as to exactly what islands are within the informally named Whitsunday Islands, in particular as to the southern extremity and the inclusions to the west. What is certain is that they lie within the chain named Cumberland Isles by Captain Cook (now officially approved as the Cumberland Islands) and a reasonably defined section of that chain and surrounding waters have become known world-wide as The Whitsundays based on a contraction of the Whitsunday Islands designation.

Tourism

The Whitsunday islands are a popular tourist destination for travellers to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

 with the area being one of the most popular yachting destinations in the Southern Hemisphere. The island received about 700,000 visitors between March 2008 and March 2009.

The Ngaro Sea Trail Great Walk is a mix of seaways and short walks, crossing South Molle, Hook and Whitsunday islands. The tracks across the islands are linked by seaways suited to kayaking, sailing or powerboating. Camping is available at eight camping areas on the three islands.

Several islands have large resorts, offering a wide variety of accommodation and activities.

Components

Listed below are islands of The Whitsundays, divided by group locality. Named rocks and islets can be found listed within the entry for the nearest island to that feature.

The Whitsunday Group

• Bird Island
• Black Island
• Border Island
• Cid Island
• Cowrie Island
• Deloraine Island
• Dent Island
  Dent Island (Whitsunday Islands)
  Dent Island is an island just off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Dent Island is located at . Dent Island is part of the Whitsunday Group and lies immediately west of Hamilton Island. The Whitsunday Group is one of the Island Groups that together comprise the Whitsunday Islands...
  
  
• Dumbbell Island
• Dungarra Island
• Esk Island
  Esk Island
  Esk Island is one of the islands in the Great Palm Island group. The nearest island is Great Palm Island, after which the group is named.The Aboriginal term for this island is Soopun Island....
  
  
• Fitzalan Island
• Hamilton Island
• Harold Island
• Haslewood Island
• Hayman Island
  Hayman Island
  Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands, part of the Cumberland Islands, which are located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia at...
  
  
• Henning Island
• Hook Island
  Hook Island
  Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost uninhabited, quite rugged and almost completely contained within a section of the Whitsunday Islands National Park...
  
  
• Ireby Island
• Langford Island
• Long Island
  Long Island (Whitsunday Islands)
  Long Island is a member of the Whitsunday Island group off the east coast of Queensland, Australia. It is in length and is at its widest point only . Long Island is the closest island in the Whitsunday group to the mainland of Australia, being only from the coastline...
  
  
• Lupton Island
• Nicolson Island
• Perseverance Island
• Plum Pudding Island
• Teague Island
• Titan Island
• Whitsunday Island
  Whitsunday Island
  Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. Whitsunday Island is located at...
  
  
• Wirrainbela Island
• Workington Island

There is some 74 islands in the Whitsunday group

Lindeman Group

The Lindeman Group of islands is located at 20°27′S 149°04′E. Situated within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

 the Lindeman Islands are part of the greater Whitsunday Islands.

The islands in the Lindeman Group include:

• Baynham Island
• Cornston Island
• Gaibirra Island
• Triangle Island
• Keyser Island
• Lindeman Island
  Lindeman Island
  Lindeman Island is an island in the Lindeman Group of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The islands was named by Captain Bedwell after his sub-lieutenant, George Sidney Lindeman whilst aboard the Royal Navy vessel HMS Virago....
  
  
• Little Lindeman Island
• Maher Island
• Mansell Island
• Pentecost Island
• Seaforth Island
• Shaw Island
• Thomas Island
• Volskow Island

The Molle Group

• Daydream Island (formerly West Molle Island)
• Denman Island
• Goat Island
• Mid Molle Island
• North Molle Island
• Planton Island
• South Molle Island
  South Molle Island
  South Molle Island, part of the Whitsunday Islands, is a resort island in the Whitsunday section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia. The hilly island has numerous bays and inlets accessible by 16 km of walking tracks, with 420 ha protected in the Whitsunday Islands...
  
  

Northern Group

• Armit Island
• Double Cone Island
• Eshelby Island
• Gloucester Island
• Grassy Island
  Grassy Island
  Grassy Island is a small, uninhabited 72-acre American island in the Detroit River. It is located just north of Grosse Ile and west of Fighting Island, about 600 feet west of the Canada–United States border. The island is part of Wayne County, Michigan with Wyandotte being the closest city. ...
  
  
• Gumbrell Island
• Olden Island
• Rattray Island
• Saddleback Island

See also

• Regions of Queensland
  Regions of Queensland
  The Regions of Queensland refers to the geographic areas of the Australian state of Queensland. Due to its large size and decentralised population, the state is often divided into regions for statistical and administrative purposes. Each region varies somewhat in terms of its economy, population,...
  
  
• Tourism in Australia
  Tourism in Australia
  Tourism is an important industry for the Australian economy. In the financial year 2009/10, the tourism industry represented 2.6% of Australia's GDP at a value of approximately A$34 billion to the national economy. Domestic tourism is a significant part of the tourism industry, and was...
  
  
• Whitsunday Islands National Park
  Whitsunday Islands National Park
  Whitsunday Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It has beautiful scenery and also has a few walks that are open to any one that camps on the islands. To camp on the islands visitors need to book a site....
  
  

External links

• Whitsunday Shire Council
• Whitsunday Islands at NASA Earth Observatory
  NASA Earth Observatory
  NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing outlet for NASA which was created in 1999. It is the principal source of satellite imagery and other scientific information pertaining to the climate and the environment which are being provided by NASA for consumption by the general public...
  
  
• Whitsunday National Park islands: Nature, culture and history