Raine Island
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Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay that is 32 hectares in total area and is situated on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 620 kilometres North north west of Cairns, Queensland, Australia,[1] and about 120 km east-north-east of Cape Grenville, Cape York Peninsula. Raine Island is the site of the oldest European structure in all of tropical Australia, a stone beacon built in 1844, and harbours the world's largest remaining population of Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas).[2]
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[edit] Geography
Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay dominated by low herbaceous annual vegetation (Batianoff et al. 1993). The cay is composed of a central core of phosphate rock surrounded by sand and extensive fringing reefs.
The island holds special significance as a seabird breeding and roosting site. It is considered as the most significant tropical seabird breeding site in the Great Barrier Reef. Raine Island is the largest and most important green sea turtle nesting area in the world, with up to 14,000 turtles nesting on the small coral sand cay in one night. The waters surrounding Raine Island are so active that seeing over 250 turtles during an hour in the water is common. An important environmental icon, the island is totally protected from access.
Raine Island is just off the eastern edge of the continental shelf, next to a shipping channel known as the Raine Island Entrance and Pandora entrance. The entrance allows shipping to enter the Great Barrier Reef.
[edit] History
More than thirty shipwrecks can be found off the coasts and beaches of Raine Island. Such ships include HMS Pandora, a vessel that in 1791 was involved in the capture of a group of mutineers off HMS Bounty.[2][3] In addition to being a populous Green Turtle sanctuary, Raine Island is a rookery to a vast amount of seabirds, amounting to perhaps the most significant seabird rookery in the whole of the Great Barrier Reef.[2]
The stone beacon that resides on Raine Island was built through convict labour in 1844, on orders of the British Admiralty. It is the oldest European structure in the Australian tropics. The stone used in the construction of the beacon was quarried from phosphorus stores found on the island itself, the timber and wood salvaged from broken shipwrecks, and shells burnt to make lime for mortar. The structure took a period of four months to complete.
While the beacon was never actually lit, it is visible over 13 nautical miles (24 km) from the island. Many years have seen the structure grow heavily damaged; undermining, stone bedding loss, natural damaging, harsh weather and lightning strikes have all contributed to the erosion of the beacon. In 1994, to, at least in part, restore the beacon, the Raine island Corporation underwent an effort to repair and shield the beacon from lightning strikes. The Raine Island Corporation was subsequently awarded a John Herbert Award for Excellence in Heritage Conservation Works or Action for their work on maintaining the monument.[4] The beacon is considered one of the most important historical monuments in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and is listed on the State Heritage Register and the Commonwealth Register of the National Estate.
The Raine Island Corporation is a self-funding statutory authority established under the auspices of the Meaker Trust (Raine Island Research) Act 1981. The Corporation's goals are to promote research into, and to ensure the preservation and protection of, the natural and cultural heritage resources of Raine Island, Moulter and Maclennan Cays and the surrounding seas.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Raine Island. Retrieved on 25 July, 2007.
- ^ a b c Raine Island Corporation. Retrieved on 25 July, 2007.
- ^ Alexander, Caroline. The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (2003)
- ^ History of the raine Island Beacon.
