Fraser Island

During the late 1980s, conservation groups including ARCS campaigned against logging on Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. The island’s forests are awe-inspring with huge trees growing on pure sand.

In 1990, the Queensland Government led by Wayne Goss, commissioned Tony Fitzgerald QC to lead the Commission of Inquiry into the Conservation, Management and Use of Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Region. ARCS lead the Joint Conservation Groups involvement in the Inquiry and prepared several submissions on logging. The Commission recommended that logging cease and the area be nominated for World Heritage listing.

Logging ceased almost immediately and ARCS was commissioned by the Queensland and Australian Governments to prepare the World Heritage nomination. Fraser Island was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992.

The following is an extract from the official “Statement of Universal Value”:

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, containing a diverse range of features that are of exceptional natural beauty. The area has over 250 kilometres of clear sandy beaches with long, uninterrupted sweeps of ocean beach, including more than 40 kilometres of strikingly coloured sand cliffs, as well as spectacular blowouts. Inland from the beach are majestic remnants of tall rainforest growing on tall sand dunes, a phenomenon believed to be unique in the world. Half of the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes occur on the island, producing a spectacular and varied landscape. The world’s largest unconfined aquifer on a sand island has also been found here.

The Australian Government web site provides a comprehensive description of the World Heritage values of Fraser Island.