Fraser Island
River Heads is the gateway to Fraser Island
River Heads is the gateway to Fraser Island and just a short barge trip will find you in the peace and tranquility of the world’s largest sand island where you can rough it and explore the farthest reaches of the island or kick back and relax at Kingfisher Bay Resort.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world covering 1840km2 and has a rich history dating back tens of thousands of years to the Aboriginals that used to inhabit the place. It was created by sand particles being washed down the rivers from the NSW tablelands and pushed north up the Queensland coast by the prevailing Southerly winds and currents where they collected around rocky outcrops and volcanic remnants.
It is unclear how long the aboriginals have lived on the island but middens can be dated back around 5000 years. Captain Cook first discovered the island in 1770, while sailing past he noticed a bunch of aboriginals standing high on a rock (now known as Indian Head).
In 1836 a shipwreck just North of the island caused the crew including Captain James Fraser and his wife Eliza to abandon ship and head back south towards Brisbane to find help, Eliza Fraser is believed to be taken in by the aboriginals on the island where she stayed until her rescue. After the tale of hardship she told about being on the island it was named Fraser Island in her memory.
For over 100 years the biggest trade on the island came from logging and sand mining, Fraser Island timber can be found all over the world and was used in the building of Suez Canal and London Docks after world war 2, it was thought to be some of the finest timber in the world.
The Island was inscribed as a world heritage listed site in 1992 and the main trade these days is tourism with nearly half a million tourists visiting the island each year to visit the resorts, shipwrecks and over 40 Fresh water lakes. The largest of which is Lake McKenzie which covers an area of 140 hectares, Fraser Island holds more than half of the world’s perched dune lakes including lake Boomanjin, the largest in the world.
Fraser Island is a favourite for those who love to rough it while on holidays but if you like the good life you can’t go past the luxury of Kingfisher Bay Resort on the Western side of the island or the party vibe of Eurong beach resort on the beachfront. So if it’s adventure or leisure you’re after, Fraser Island has it all.