Fraser Island World Heritage

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values. It features complex dune systems that are still evolving, and an array of rare and unique features in this sand environment, including dune lakes and tall rainforests.

Location

Stretching over 120 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and covering 1,840 km2, it is the largest sand island in the world.

Description of place

A place of exceptional beauty, it is characterised by its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, its majestic tall rainforests and numerous freshwater lakes of crystal clear waters.

The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years.

Fraser Island features complex dune systems that are still evolving, and an array of dune lakes that is exceptional in its number, diversity and age.

The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level. Forty perched dune lakes, half the number of such lakes in the world, can be found on the island. These lakes are formed when organic matter, such as leaves, bark and dead plants, gradually builds up and hardens in depressions created by the wind.

Fraser Island also has several barrage lakes, formed when moving sand dunes block a watercourse, and 'window' lakes, formed when a depression exposes part of the regional water table.

A surprising variety of vegetation types grow on the island, ranging from coastal heath to subtropical rainforests. It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres.

The low 'wallum' heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, providing magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.

Birds are the most abundant form of animal life on the island, with more than 350 species recorded. It is a particularly important site for migratory wading birds, which use the area as a resting place during their long flight between southern Australia and their breeding grounds in Siberia.

A species of particular interest is the endangered ground parrot, which is found in the wallum heathlands.

Few mammal species are present on the island. The most common are bats, particularly flying foxes. The dingo population on the island is regarded as the most pure strain of dingoes remaining in eastern Australia.