Green Island (Queensland)
A coral cay with deep Aboriginal mythological and historical ties.
Green Island, originally known as Dabuukji, is a coral cay located within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park World Heritage Area off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Coral Sea
- Country
- Australia
- Country admin divisions
- Queensland
Facts from the source article.
Geography
The island is a coral cay surrounded by coral reef and protected within Green Island National Park. It supports dry coastal plants and a vine thicket rainforest, with no natural freshwater springs; all vegetation relies on rainwater and a small freshwater lens beneath the island. A luxury resort with 46 rooms is situated there, and most visitors come for the day.
History
The cay formed approximately 6,000 years ago from sand, coral and other debris deposited by waves. The Gungganyji language group, as confirmed by local speakers Roy Banning, Robert Patterson, and Henry Fourmile, hold a special connection to the island, which they call Dabuukji. This name may refer to a larger island with a freshwater marsh or hole at its centre, or to the story of the turtle that first obtained nostrils on this cay, or to aspects of young Gungganyji male initiation rituals once conducted there. According to Dick Moses of the Yidinyji people, in the Dreamtime the island was about four times its current size, with the present cay being only the north-east portion. Local Aboriginal people traditionally regarded the cay as wunjami, a place haunted by spirits, and generally avoided it. The Queensland Government gazetted the name Green Island, given by Lieutenant James Cook on 10 June 1770, possibly after the vegetation's appearance or after astronomer Charles Green. The first known non-Aboriginal resident was fisherman James Seton Veitch Mein in 1857, who established a beche-de-mer smoking station. Coconut palms were planted in 1899 for shipwrecked sailors. In April 1873, the vessel Goodwill arrived with three European crew and five Manbarra people press-ganged from Palm Island to process beche-de-mer. The Aboriginal people, resenting their treatment, killed two of the whites and stole the Goodwill; the third crewman, Daniel Kelly, escaped to report the killings. Native Police officer Robert Arthur Johnstone was ordered to organise a punitive mission.
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