Heron Island (Queensland)
Heron Iceland is an approximately 17 -acre island in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef, 80 kilometers north-east of Gladstone (Queensland ), Australia, and part of the Gladstone region. The island is located on the western part of the Heron riffs and has a remarkable biodiversity that is protected by the National Park Capricornia Cays.
History
The island was first sighted in 1770 by James Cook and Matthew Flinders in 1802. Both avoided, however, likely to go ashore because of shoals of the Great Barrier Reef, Heron on Iceland. Finally, the island was taken in 1843 by Charles Bampfield Yule as part of a journey of discovery for Great Britain in possession and received its name from Francis Blackwood, an officer in the team, landed with a cutter.
The island remained uninhabited until well into the 20th century and was only occasionally visited for seasonal hunting of green turtles. 1936 began captain Christian Poulsen, who organized fishing trips for several years in the area of the island, Heron Iceland for £ 290 1943, large parts of Heron Iceland were bought by the Australian government and declared a National Park.
Current usage
On the island, the tourism company Delaware North beitreibt from the United States, a holiday resort. Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular with mainly foreign tourists. The 1943 decline in the harbor of the island HMAS Protector represents a popular diving destination
On Heron there are also of a research station that studies since the mid-20th century, in particular the ecology of coral reefs.
Since there is no fresh water on the island, a small desalination plant was built, which is gaining fresh water by means of an environmentally friendly, osmotic process. Electricity is generated using two diesel generators and solar panels.
Flora and Fauna
The nature of the island is characterized by a great diversity of species and typical of the Great Barrier Reef. A diverse fauna determined in particular the image of the village in the east of the island national parks. In addition to typical native species here find papaya, Oleander, Red frangipani, bougainvillea and coconut palms.
Native species include silver head gulls, Reef egret, Gallirallus, copper neck doves, Götz Reads, black face crawler catcher, glasses birds and Pacific rats. Furthermore, (usually in October on their forays into the Antarctic) to be found in the coral reefs around Heron green turtles, hawksbill turtles and loggerhead turtles and in the open sea off the island of whales.
Voyager
A photo of the island is located in the memory of the Voyager Golden Record the space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 Heron Iceland was included as an outstanding example of the rich biodiversity of the earth with the selection of the photos of places in the world.