Educational Programs

K'gari's traditional owners, the Butchulla people, have lived on the island for more than 5,500 years and because of its abundance of natural resources and stunning beauty they named the place K'gari - which translates to paradise. The world's largest sand island is filled with a rich cultural history, which is evident in its archaeological sites, middens and ceremonial bora rings. European history credits its discovery to Captain James Cook who sailed by in May 1770 and the island was later named after Eliza Fraser who was a survivor of the Stirling Castle, that was shipwrecked on the island in 1836.

K'gari was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992 in recognition of its natural values as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes and as an example of superlative natural phenomena.

The island has complex dune systems that are still evolving; perched dune lakes (the second highest concentration in Australia) and rainforests that grow in sand - the only place in the world where they do this at elevations of 200m.

K'gari has been two million years in the making. A variety of eco systems including mangrove colonies, wallum heath and peat swamps, eucalyptus woodland, sand dunes, coastal heaths and rainforests all co-exist in an area that is just 1,840km squared. Perched, barrage and window lakes are in abundance - it's the second highest concentration of dune lakes in Australia - and silent running fresh-water creeks, fed from a natural aquifer that takes 100 years for the water to filter through. There are two rocky outcrops, on K'gari's eastern beach, that stand out from the sand dunes and were formed by volcanic activity 80 million years ago.

Migrating Humpback Whales, dugongs, dolphins, birds, dingoes, reptiles, amphibians and fish – the island is home to a diverse array of native terrestrial and water fauna, all waiting to come under the microscope. The island's flora is equally diverse from mangrove colonies to open woodland and dense subtropical rainforest growing completely in sand. K'gari's famous Satinay trees were logged extensively due to their resistance to marine borer and were used to rebuild both The London Docks (after the war), and they also line the Suez Canal.