Discover

'Lizard Island' is a national park in Queensland (Australia), 1624 km northwest of Brisbane and part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island.

Contents

Aboriginal History

European History

See also

Aerial photos & maps

References

Aboriginal History

Lizard Island was known as Dyiigurra to the Dingaal Aboriginal people and was regarded as a sacred place. It was used by the people for the initiation of young males and for the harvesting of shellfish, turtles, dugongs and fish. The Dingaal believed that the Lizard group of islands had been created in the Dreamtime. They saw it as a stingray with Lizard Island being the body and the other islands in the group forming the tail. The local Dingiil Aboriginal people call the island 'Jiigurru'.

European History

The name Lizard Island was given to it by Captain Cook when he passed it on 12 August 1770, "The only land Animals we saw here were Lizards, and these seem'd to be pretty Plenty, which occasioned my naming the Island Lizard Island."^[1]
By the 1860s the island was being used by bêche-de-mer fishermen who found that the waters contained substantial quantities of the sea cucumber or trepang which was a popular delicacy in Asia.
In 1879 Captain Robert Watson with his wife, two servants and baby son, modified an abandoned cottage left on the island by the crew of the ''Julia Percy''. The ruins are still visible. Captain Watson, was a bêche-de-mer fisherman and during one of his absences Aborigines from the mainland killed one of the servants. Mrs. Watson was only 21 when she arrived at Lizard Island and is famed for her courage and endurance. After the attack, accompanied by her child and the other Chinese servant, she attempted to flee to the mainland in an iron boiling tank (it can be seen in the Queensland Museum - it is a large rectangular tub) used for boiling bêche-de-mer. The vessel floated away from the coast and all three died of thirst nine days later on the waterless Howick No 5 Island. Their bodies were found three months later along with Mrs. Watson's diary. Photos of Mrs Watson and her memorial (images 67193, 194899 and 22232) have been digitised and are held by the State Library of Queensland. In retaliation to the attack, a punitive expedition was mounted against Aboriginal groups, but they were almost certainly the wrong Aborigines.^[2]
In 1939 all of the islands in the group were declared a national park.
Lizard Island is a high granite island about 10 square kilometres in size, with three smaller islands nearby (Palfrey, South and Bird). Together these islands form the Lizard Island Group and their well-developed fringing reef encircles the 10 metre deep Blue Lagoon.
The only settlements on the island are the Lizard Island Research Station operated by the Australian Museum, the Lizard Island Resort operated by Voyages Hotels & Resorts and a basic camping area operated by the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service.
All islands in the Lizard Island Group are part of the Lizard Island National Park, administered by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Lizard Island is situated in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, administered jointly by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. Permits are required for all manipulative research in the Lizard Island Group and the waters surrounding it.

The Lizard Island Group is a mid-shelf reef, situated 30 kilometres from the Australian mainland. Most reef and island types characteristic of the Great Barrier Reef are accessible from the Research Station.
During his epic voyage of 1770, Captain James Cook climbed the peak on Lizard Island to chart a course out to sea through the maze of reefs which confronted him

See also

★ Protected areas of Queensland (Australia)

Aerial photos & maps

References

1.
2. Robertson, Jillian. (1981) ''Lizard Island: A Reconstruction of the Life of Mrs Watson''. Hutchinson of Australia, Richmond, Victoria. ISBN 0-09-137140-6