USC281

The wreck fo the S.S Maheno on the ocean beach.

The Sandy Cape lighthouse was built in 1881. An immigration quaratine station operated in the late 19th century. During World War II a comando camp was established at Mackenzie's Jetty and the 5277 ton steamer "Maheno", which ran aground on Fraser Island in a cyclone of 1935 whilst under tow to Japan, was used as a bombing target by the R.A.A.F.

FRASER ISLAND DEVELOPMENT SYD MELKSHAM Prop. POSTAL ADDRESS: Eurong Beach - Fraser Island - 4650

ACCOMMODATION FOR PARTIES UP TO SIXTEEN PERSONS

Conducted Bus Tours for large parties through Rain Forests, Lakes and Scenic Attractions of Fraser Island.

Camping Area and ammenities block for large parties.

STORE AND SERVICE STATION at EURONG

ESCAPE FOR A WEEK!

FRASER ISLAND OCEAN BEACH TOURING AND FISHING SAFARIS

WEEKLY TRIPS FOR PARTIES OF UP TO 8 PERSONS FULL COST $150 per party

TRIP INCLUDES... Transport for Hervey Bay to Fraser Island (Yidney Rocks) and return. Comfortable accommodation (Electric light, Refrigerators, Hot Showers and Septic system. Fishing and sightseeing trips each day. Bait supplied.

PLEASE NOTE... Linen, Food and Fishing Gear NOT SUPPLIED. This is an old and well estabished business. For further information contact... MARSHALL SANDERSON 48 ESPLANADE, URANGAN, QUEENSLAND. 4658 PHONE HERVEY BAY 28 9366

Food was prolific and easily obtained mainly from the sea. Numerous, extensive middens along the shore line bear witness to Flinder's observations. Their principal diet was eugaries called "war-wongs" but they varied these with fruits (Midyim, pandanus and zamias) vegatables and fish.

Unlike white people, the aborigines were tidy. When they feasted on the shell fish from the shores, they piled the shells in heaps. Gradually, over the years, huge mounds would build up, sometimes so large that after being overgrown with grass, they have been mistaken for small natural hills.

By 1897 only 300 aboriginals remained. They were brought to the old quaratine station at White Cliffs where a mission station was established. Here they were exposed to the corrupting influence of alcohol and opium. In 1904 the mission people were transferred to Yarrabah (outside Cairns) and the few remaining to Durundur and Cherbourg - A sad end for the long history of the proud Kabi tribe.

THE DISTURBERS

Great Fraser - "our" Island, don't die! Only death will take this scene Not the blindness from our tears, As we watch your wealth destory The calm of other hidden years.

The sleeping sand stirring slightly Under her children's moving feet Each day, now wakens in terror At the marauder's looting churn Tearing her very life away.

Dorothy Tracey.

Looking south to Indian Head from dunes behind Waddy Pt.

Native flora on the ocean beach, Fraser Island.

FOR THE NATURALIST The wastelands are clothed with an extraordinary miscellany of varied tree growth swamps, heaths, wild flowers and mangroves, but in places are bare, extensive, snow white shifting sandhills. In spring the wildflowers make a wonderful pattern of beauty. Swampy low lands and sandy hill tops blaze in purple, blue, red and yellow.

The most obvious animals are the brumbies who have survived on the island since the earliest white settlement. However, dingoes, possums, squirrels and bandicoots, as well as wallabies, are part of the fauna to be encountered.

The prolific bird life of Fraser Island and its wide variety of plant life are major attractions to the naturalists. Only the thunder of surf can obliterate the songs of almost 200 varieties of birds records on Fraser Island. Cockatoos, wrens, honeyeaters, kingfishers, whistlers, robins and flycatchers are just some of the birds which abound on this 77 mile long sanctuary where shooting is strictly forbidden.

A track through Fraser Island's rain forest.

THE TIMBER OF FRASER ISLAND.

Although supplying 7,000,000 super feet of timber annually, the timber areas of Fraser Island are limited to 30,000 acres of eucalytpus (8% of the island) 22,000 acres of satinay and brush base (5% of the island), and 6,000 acres of hoop pine and rain forest and 6,000 acres of cypress forest, (each 3% of Fraser Island). Yet in 1948 Fraser Island contributed 5% of all timber cut from Crown lands of the state. All the commercial timber is logged south of Bowarrady which is in the northern limit of commercial timber.

Timber grows well in the seemingly sterile sand nourished by an annual average of 62 inches of rain which is held in the accumulated humus and which is prevented from leaching by the pear floors underlying the sand. Timber grows fast in the moist subtropical climate. Blackbutt is the principal species harvested. It is mainly grown outside the rain forest, reaching 120 feet in height and 12 to 14 feet in girth. There are big stands of satinay which reach girths of 18 feet.

The rainforests of Fraser Island have been logged of their most valuable species notably Hoop Pine, Kauri Pine, Satin Oak, Bennetts Ash, Bumpy Ash and Quandong. They contribute only a small amount of the total cut today and the main logging is in the hardwood forests, mainly the blackbutt forests and the scribbly gum, turpentine, and Moreton Bay ash of the first high dunes. Little cypress pine is logged.

Examining a large aboriginal midden.

THE ABORIGINES

Fraser Island is believe to have supported between 2,000 and 3,000 aborigines in 1850. They were all members of the Kabi nation whose territory extended over the whole of the Mary, Burrum, Noosa, Maroochy and Mooloolah River basins. The Kabi nation was divided into 19 sub tribes or clans, each with its own tribal lands with clearly defined boudaries. The Butchulla tribe is reported to have occupied Fraser Island.

The natives were governed by a Council of Elders who, determined punishments, conducted inquests, taught and explained the laws, customs and beliefs of their tribe. They also organised revenge expeditions. The Kabi tribe was regarded as being fierce and hostile and practised cannibalism. They ate the flesh of those killed in combat and those who died at an early age, this being a ritual act.

The aborigines of the island were generally well-built with good muscle. Their hair was usually jet black and the men grew bushy curly whiskers and moustaches. They ranged in height from 5 feet to 6 feet but averaged 5 ft. 6 ins. The woman averaged 5 feet. Both sexes were extremely agile and very strong, and all went naked except for pubic aprons which were sometimes worn. For protection for the cold, rain or insects, fat from fish or animals, often mixed with ashes, was rubbed on the boady. The main ornament was a piece of sea-shell of eliptical shape, hung around the neck.

The natives lived by harsh and complicated social system with numerous taboos and rituals of great importance to every member of the tribe. Polygamy was legal and widely practised. A man could not marry a woman of his own clan and children belonged to the clan of the mother. To express sorrow in time of mourning both men and women would gash themselves with sharp stones and other implements. The natives of Fraser Island possessed the same type of weapons and implements as their mainland neighbours, except for the woomerah. Their canoes were made from the bark of the iron-bark tree and were used for trips for fishing and hunting dugong and turtle.

DINE AND WINE IN THE FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE OF THE BAVARIAN FULLY LICENSED SELECT YOUR DINNER FROM 27 DIFFERENT CONTINENTAL AND AUSTRALIAN DISHES

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK LUNCH FROM 12-2P.M. DINNER SERVED FROM 6P.M. LIQUOR SERVED TILL MIGNIGHT SATURDAYS FREE ENTERTAINMENT

WE CATER FOR WEDDINGS - FUNCTIONS - PARTIES FOR BOOKINGS: PHONE 28 1540 BAVARIAN RESTAURANT, 52 ESPLANADE, TORQUAY HERVEY BAY

CASWELLS FOR EVINRUDE PRIDE SEAFARER EASYRIDER BROOKER BOATS

FOR ALL MARINE REQUIREMENTS SEE: CASWELL & CO. PTY. LTD. CNR. TORQUAY RD. & ZEPHYR ETS., SCARNESS and 276 - 278 KENT ST., MARYBOROUGH

Looking north to Waddy Point from Middle Rocks.

The timber is hauled to the tidal creeks south of Moon Point, and loaded onto barges to be punted up the Mary River to the Maryborough sawmills. Gone are the exciting days of the log crafts, the bullock teams, Mackenzie's Sawmill, the tramlines with their steam locos, and timber getters' skirmishes with the aboriginals. Yet the timber industry has sustained an interest in Fraser Island throughout its history.

A high ridge of coloured sand, south of Indian Head.

NATIONAL PARKS

For a long time now people have been agitating for a national park on Fraser Island. The first recommendation for a National Park was made in 1959 for extensive park on the northern end of Fraser Island.

So far there have been no National Parks gazetted on Fraser Island but there are a number of Beauty Spots, totally 6,053 acres (out of a state total of 11,840 acres).

The forestry department regards beauty spots as having the same status as National Parks but they have no statutory basis and therefore they are liable to the same mining as any other parts of State forests. For example, forestry beauty sport totalling 1835 acres, including Waddy Point, Indian Head (which were not excised from the state forest in 1963) and Wabby Lakes, are subject to mining lease applications.

Many people believe that there should be an extensive National Park on the northern end of Fraser Island for the following reasons:- (1) EXTENT - Fraser Island can accommodate a 1,000,000 acre national park in the Parishes of Caree, Bowarrady and Wathumba without intruding on any areas which are being logged by the Forestry Department. Although most of the island, almost 400,000 acres, is a state forest only one sixth (or 65,000 acres) carries commercial forest. With Queensland having less than 0.7% of its area preserved as National Parks, extensive national parks of this size are needed urgently.

Waddy Point, one of several basalt outcrops on Fraser Island.

The Cathedral - spectacular coloured sand dunes on the ocean beach.

(2) DIVERSITY - The national park proposed includes samples of every ecological types on Fraser Island, from rain forest, though various kinds of scrubs and a wide range of plant communities to extensive heathlands, swamps, numerous lakes, sand blows and some wetlands. (3) NATURALNESS - Large areas at the northern end of Fraser Island have not been exploited by white man. Once disturbed, the naturalness here is irreplaceable. (4) RARITY - Nowhere else on the east Australian coast does an isthmus of sand jut so far out from the mainland exposing the terrain to winds from three directions. In this environment a number of unique geographical features have evolved which occur nowhere else in Australia. (5) FRAGILITY - The island sand is vulnerable to disturbance. The ecosystems are not robust and if shattered, stability may be lost. (6) REPRESENTATIVENESS - Plant communities vary in type and location. The number of systems included in the proposed national park are represntative of the remaining 75% of Fraser Island. (7) POSITION IN AN ECOLOGICAL SERIES - Because of its relationship with other areas in Australia as C.S.I.R.O scientists have indicated a national park could be an important store of knowledge. (8) GEOGRAPHICAL AND ECOLOGICAL UNITY - Framed as it is on three sides by the sea, and on the other by State Forest the proposed national park has an integrity rare in national parks. (9) RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL VALUE - Dynamics of sand movements are not yet well understood, but more knowledge is vital for the proper use and management or our coastal resources. Fraser Island provides an opportunity for this research. (10) RECORDED HISTORY - White history of Fraser Island is brief and impressive but already the treasures of stored history in the aboriginal middens have been the subject of an imporant doctorate thesis. (11) INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE - With a hotel of international standing adjacent to the national park, the area has already aroused world wide interest. Scientists and tourists alike could use these facilities.

No doubt a comprehensive survey of all the natural resources of Fraser Island is need to determine the validity and relevance of these critera to the proposed national park thus defining the best possible land use for the long term benefit of man.