Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 08:49, 12 April 2024

Lizard Island National Park Queensland
IUCN category II (national park)
Lizard Island National Park
Nearest town or city	Cooktown
Coordinates	14°40′08″S 145°27′34″E / 14.66889°S 145.45944°E / -14.66889; 145.45944
Established	1939
Area	9.9 km (3.8 sq mi)
Managing authorities	Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	Lizard Island National Park
See also	Protected areas of Queensland

Lizard Island, also known as Jiigurru or Dyiigurra, is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, 1,624-kilometre (1,009 mi) northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island, and also part of the Lizard Island National Park. Lizard Island is within the locality of Lizard in the Cook Shire. The traditional owners of the Lizard Island group are the Aboriginal Australian clan known as the Dingaal (or Dingiil) people.

History

Archaeological excavations and studies have shown that human occupation of the island dates to 6510–5790 cal BP, which shows that Jiigurru was the earliest offshore island occupied on the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef.

Lizard Island was known as Dyiigurra to the Dingaal people, an Aboriginal clan who have occupied the island for thousands of years. Today this is usually rendered Jiigurru, and the local people are sometimes referred to as Dingiil. David Horton's 1996 representation of Norman Tindale's map shows the lands of the Guugu Yimithirr people extending from south of Hope Vale to an area which covers Lizard Island. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority states on their website that the traditional lands of the "Guugu Yimidhirr Warra Nation" extend from Lizard Island to the Hope Vale region. The website "Dingaals Lizard Island" states that the island has been in the custodianship of the Dingaal people for thousands of years. According to the Cairns Institute and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, the Dingaal people are the traditional owners of the Lizard Island group. As of April 2024 the senior elder of the Dingaals is Gordon Charlie. 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.

Pottery found on the island has been dated at 2,000–3,000 years old, showing that pots were most likely made by Aboriginal people using locally-sourced materials. The 2024 study showed that the people who lived there were involved in the ancient maritime networks in the vicinity, including the possession of sophisticated skills in building ocean-going vessels as well as navigation. (See below).

The name Lizard Island was given to it by Captain Cook when he passed it on 12 August 1770. He commented, "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." Cook climbed the peak on Lizard Island to chart a course out to sea through the maze of reefs which confronted him and the island's summit has since been called 'Cook's Look'.

By the 1860s the island was being used by sea cucumber fishermen who found that the waters contained substantial quantities of the creature which was a popular delicacy in Asia.

In 1879, Captain Robert Watson with his wife Mary Watson, 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 sea cucumber fisherman and during one of his absences, Aboriginal people 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 sea cucumber. The vessel floated away from the coast and all three died of thirst nine days later on the waterless No 5 Howick Island. Their bodies were found three months later along with Mrs Watson's diary. The State Library of Queensland holds two diaries by Mrs Watson. One is about her last 9 months on Lizard Island and the other is notes documenting her last days. In retaliation to the attack, a punitive expedition was mounted against Aboriginal peoples.

In 1939, all of the islands in the group were declared a national park.

Geology and geography

Lizard Island is a granite island about 10 km (3.9 sq mi) 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 (33 ft) deep Blue Lagoon.

Archaeology

The oldest occupation layers on the island date to 6510–5790 cal BP, which shows that Jiigurru was the earliest offshore island occupied on the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef.

Site 17 is a site on Mangrove Beach on the south side of Lizard Island, where archaeologists found pottery sherds in an intertidal context. These were identified to contain granite-derived, quartz sand temper. The midden is located and is quite large, covering a total area of 7,000 m (75,000 sq ft). Site 17 was first observed by Jim Specht in 1978-9, then excavated by Robynne Mills in 1992, and further excavated by a team including Specht in 2009.

Mills excavation site, also on Mangrove Beach, was a 100 cm (39 in) X 50 cm (20 in) x 150 cm (59 in) trench, and identified six stratigraphic layers. It was observed through radiocarbon dating that the basal layer (6) produced a range of 3358-2929 cal BP on charcoal found at the 120–130 cm (47–51 in) depth.

In October 2009 Lentfer, Specht, and a representative of the Dingaal people, Johnathan Charlie, began excavating a new trench 2 m (6 ft 7 in) east of Mills trench. This new trench was 60 cm (24 in) x 40 cm (16 in) x 140 cm (55 in), and showed six layers of stratigraphy similar to Mills trench. There were recovered pieces of quartz, granite, and pumice discovered from the basal levels of layer number 6, which using radiocarbon dating were dated to be from 3815-3571 cal BP to 3206-2959 cal BP.

A study published in April 2024 involving many scientists, working with traditional owners, determined that sherds found on the island were the oldest securely dated ceramics found in Australia. The data showed that local raw materials were used and that the pottery was made on the island, which showed that the people who lived there were involved in the ancient maritime networks in the vicinity, including the possession of sophisticated canoe travel technology and skills in navigating on the ocean, which enabled them to connect with other peoples across the Coral Sea. The dating showed that it was created between 2950–2545 cal BP and 1970–1815 cal BP, which overlaps with the late Lapita and post-Lapita traditions of southern Papua New Guinea.

Governance

Lizard Island is within the locality of Lizard in the Cook Shire.

Lizard Island National Park is administered by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (Parks and Forests).

The island is also part 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.

Heritage listings

Lizard Island has a number of heritage-listed sites, including Mrs Watson's Cottage

Species

Reptiles

There are 11 species of lizards on the island. The most commonly found lizard is the yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes). Skinks and geckos are among some of the other reptiles roaming Lizard Island. The lowlands bar-lipped skink (Eremiascincus pardalis) and the sandy rainbow-skink (Carlia dogare) are endemic species of Queensland found on this island. The Chevert gecko (Nactus cheverti) is the only gecko on the island that's only endemic to Queensland. Pythons and tree snakes are common while the most dangerous snake on the island, the brown-headed snake (Furina tristis), is rarely seen. Green marine turtles (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead marine turtles (Caretta caretta) can be seen nesting on the island in the summer and are often spotted in the shallow water.

Birds

There are over 40 species of birds that reside on or visit Lizard Island. Only about 20 species nest on the island, including terns. The island is home to many land and sea birds including the bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis), pheasant coucal (Centropus phasianinus), yellow-bellied sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis), white-bellied sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), and osprey (Pandion cristatus). Seasonal birds such as white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) and dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) also appear on the island.

Mammals

Bats

Lizard Island is home to a few bat species but the most common is the Black flying-foxes (Pteropus alecto). They typically roam around the island and congregate in the mangroves. Black flying-foxes will fly to the mainland when flowering is poor. Eastern Dusky Leaf-nosed Bat (Hipposideros ater) have also been spotted on the island.

Rodents

Until 2009, Lizard Island had no native rodents recorded. In October 2009, water rats (Hydromys chrysogaster) were spotted on the island and steadily increased in population until 2012. In 2010, Cape York mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys capensis) were spotted in South Island, marked as the first native rodent to the island chain.

Current settlement and use

Aside from the national park, Lizard Island also contains a number of other facilities:

Lizard Island Research Station

Situated on Lizard Island's most westerly point, the research station is operated by the Australian Museum, providing research and education facilities for those interested in studying coral reefs. As a result of research conducted at the station, about 1,000 scientific publications have been produced by Australian and international researchers since the station was set up in 1973.

Lizard Island Resort

On the island's north western side is an ultra luxury resort owned by Hong Kong listed property company Sea Holdings and operated by Voyages Hotels & Resorts until November 2009, the resort is now operated by Delaware North. The 40 villa resort focuses on providing seclusion and watersport activities that take advantage of the island's location on the Great Barrier Reef, including diving trips to the nearby Cod Hole.

See also

• Lizard Island Airport
• Protected areas of Queensland

References

1. ^ Ulm, Sean; McNiven, Ian J.; et al. (9 April 2024). "Early Aboriginal pottery production and offshore island occupation on Jiigurru (Lizard Island group), Great Barrier Reef, Australia". Quaternary Science Reviews. Elsevier BV: 108624. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108624. ISSN 0277-3791. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
2. "History". Dingaals Lizard Island. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
3. Horton, David R. (1996). "Map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
4. "Reef Traditional Owners". Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
5. ^ "Home". Dingaals Lizard Island. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
6. "An Update on the Lizard Island Archaeological Project: Investigating Dingaal Seascapes on the Great Barrier Reef, Far North Queensland". The Cairns Institute. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
7. "Lizard Island: Nature, culture and history". Parks and forests. 22 January 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
8. "Information Paper: An Experimental Ecosystem Account for the Great Barrier Reef Region, 2015". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
9. Hinchliffe, Joe (9 April 2024). "Great Barrier Reef discovery overturns belief Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery, archaeologists say". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
10. • Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World at Project Gutenberg
11. Waterson, Paddy; Waghorn, Anita; Swartz, Julie; Brown, Ross (1 September 2013). "What's in a Name? Beyond The Mary Watson Stories to a Historical Archaeology of Lizard Island". International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 17 (3): 590–612. doi:10.1007/s10761-013-0235-0. ISSN 1573-7748.
12. Watson, Mary Beatrice (1881), Mary Watson Diaries, 1 Jan 1881 – 10 Oct 1881, archived from the original on 5 February 2023, retrieved 1 June 2016
13. Robertson, Jillian. (1981) Lizard Island: A Reconstruction of the Life of Mrs Watson. Hutchinson of Australia, Richmond, Victoria. ISBN 0-09-137140-6
14. "Welcome to Lizard Island". Lizard Island. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
15. ^ "Lizard Island National Park". Parks and forests. 19 January 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
16. ^ Lentfer, Carol J.; Felgate, Matthew W.; Mills, Robynne A.; Specht, Jim (12 February 2013). "Human history and palaeoenvironmental change at Site 17, Freshwater Beach, Lizard Island, northeast Queensland, Australia" (PDF). Queensland Archaeological Research. 16: 141–164. doi:10.25120/qar.16.2013.227. ISSN 1839-339X.
17. "Lizard Island – island in the Shire of Cook (entry 19800)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
18. "Stone ruin at Lizard Island (entry 600430)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
19. ^ "Nature, culture and history | Lizard Island National Park". Parks and forests | Department of Environment and Science, Queensland. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
20. "About Lizard Island". Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing. Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
21. "Wildlife of Lizard Island National Park". wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
22. "Bats and Rats in Lizard Island Field Guide (Lizard Island Field Guide)". lifg.australianmuseum.net.au. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
23. "Water rat (species: Hydromys chrysogaster) in Lizard Island Field Guide (Lizard Island Field Guide)". lifg.australianmuseum.net.au. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
24. "Lizard Island Research Station Profile". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
25. "Food, Venue & Hotel Management Company - Delaware North". Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
26. "Lizard Island Resort". Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.

Further reading

• Watson, Mary (1881), Mary Watson Diaries, 1 Jan 1881 - 10 Oct 1881
• "Mary Watson Diaries, January - October 1881: treasure collection of the John Oxley Library". State Library of Queensland.
• Foxwell-Norton, Kerrie. "Memories and Mutton Birds Women of the Great Barrier Reef". State Library of Queensland.

v t e Australian places named on the First voyage of James Cook in 1770
Victoria	19 April: Point Hicks Ram Head 20: Cape Howe
New South Wales	21 April: Mount Dromedary Batemans Bay 22 April: Pigeon House 25 April: Red Point 28 April: Botany Bay* 6 May: Port Jackson Broken Bay 11 May: Point Stephens Port Stephens Cape Hawke 12 May: The Three Brothers 13 May: Smoky Cape 15 May: Solitary Isles Cape Byron 16 May: Mount Warning
Queensland	16 May: Point Danger 17 May: Point Lookout Cape Moreton Moreton Bay The Glass Houses 18 May: Double Island Point Wide Bay 19 May: Indian Head Sandy Cape 21 May: Hervey Bay Breaksea Spit 23 May: Bustard Bay* 25 May: Cape Capricorn 26 May: Keppel Isles 27 May: Keppel Bay Cape Manyfold 28 May: Shoalwater Bay Northumberland Isles 31 May: Pier Head 1 June: Long Isle Broad Sound 2 June: Slade Point Cape Hillsborough 3 June: Cape Conway Repulse Bay 4 June: Whitsundays Passage Pentecost Island Cape Gloucester Edgecumbe Bay Cumberland Islands 5 June: Cape Upstart 6 June: Magnetical Island Palm Isles Cleveland Bay 8 June: Halifax Bay Rockingham Bay Dunk Island Hillock Point Double Point 9 June: Frankland Islands Fitzroy Island Cape Grafton 10 June: Green Isle Trinity Bay Cape Tribulation Low Isles 13 June: Hope Islands 14 June – 4 August: Endeavour River Cape Bedford 10 August: Cape Flattery 11 August: Lizard Island* Eagle Island* 19 August: Cape Grenville Forbes Islands Bolt Head 20 August: Bird Isles Sir Charles Hardy Islands 21 August: York Cape 22 August: Possession Island* Prince of Wales' Isles 23 August: Booby Island*
*Places where Cook landed

• IUCN Category II
• National parks of Far North Queensland
• Protected areas established in 1939
• 1939 establishments in Australia
• Lizard Island (Queensland)
• Islands of Far North Queensland