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Whitsundays
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The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various
sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south
of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres (560 mi) north of Brisbane.
The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre
is Hamilton Island.
The term is a mis-nomer, based as it is on Captain Cook’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.
The Whitsunday islands are a popular tourist destination for travelers to Queensland
and the Great Barrier Reef. The island received about 700,000 visitors between March
2008 and March 2009.
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 islands in the Whitsunday Group:
- Bird Island
- Black Island
- Border Island
- Cid Island
- Cowrie Island
- Deloraine Island
- Dent Island
- Dumbbell Island
- Dungarra Island
- Esk Island
- Fitzalan Island
- Hamilton Island
- Harold Island
- Haslewood Island
- Hayman Island
- Henning Island
- Hook Island
- Ireby Island
- Langford Island
- Long Island
- Lupton Island
- Nicolson Island
- Perseverance Island
- Plum Pudding Island
- Teague Island
- Titan Island
- Whitsunday Island
- Wirrainbela Island
- Workington Island
The islands in the Lindeman Group:
- Baynham Island
- Cornston Island
- Gaibirra Island
- Triangle Island
- Keyser Island
- Lindeman Island
- Little Lindeman Island
- Maher Island
- Mansell Island
- Pentecost Island
- Seaforth Island
- Shaw Island
- Thomas Island
- Volskow Island
The islands in the Molle Group:
- Daydream Island (formerly West Molle Island)
- Denman Island
- Goat Island
- Mid Molle Island
- North Molle Island
- Planton Island
- South Molle Island
- Northern Group
- Armit Island
- Double Cone Island
- Eshelby Island
- Gloucester Island
- Grassy Island
- Gumbrell Island
- Olden Island
- Rattray Island
- Saddleback Island
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