Fraser Island/K'gari
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Lying off the Queensland coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, around 250 kilometres north of Brisbane, the World Heritage-listed sand island K'gari (Badtjala, lit. 'Paradise') a.k.a. Fraser Island or the Great Sandy Island is the world's largest sand island.
The 123-kilometre long island island covers an area of 166,038 hectares and was an extension of the mainland's coastal dunes until rising seas created the Passage between ten thousand and twenty thousand years ago. Human occupation by the Badtjala/ Butchulla people dates back at least 5,000 — possibly up to 50,000 — years.
Fraser Island was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, with the listing updated in 2021 to include the traditional name.
Sources:
- K'gari (Fraser Island) Defenders Organisation: History of Fraser Island (K’gari)
- Queensland Government: Parks and Forests: K'gari, Great Sandy National Park
- Queensland Place Names Database: https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/title/place-names/queensland-place-names-search (Requires search )
- J. Shulmeister et al., Chronology and evolution of the world's largest sand island: K'gari (Fraser Island), South East Queensland, Australia
