Brook Islands National Park

Protected area in Queensland, Australia

Brook Islands National Park
Queensland

IUCN category II (national park)

Torresian imperial pigeon

Brook Islands National Park

Coordinates| 18°8′29″S 146°16′56″E﻿ / ﻿18.14139°S 146.28222°E﻿ / -18.14139; 146.28222
Established| 1994
Area| 0.9 km2 (0.35 sq mi)
Managing authorities| Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
See also| Protected areas of Queensland

The Brook Islands National Park is a national park in Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia,[1] 1246 km northwest of Brisbane, with an area of 0.9 km2. It was established in 1994 and comprises three islands (North, Tween and Middle) which lie off the coast 7 km north-east of Cape Richards on Hinchinbrook Island and 30 km east of the nearest mainland town of Cardwell. The fourth island of the Brooks group, South Island, is not part of the national park but is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Public access to the three islands in the national park is prohibited in order to protect breeding birds, especially the Torresian imperial-pigeon. The islands have no roads, walking tracks or other facilities. Popular activities in the waters around the islands are boating, snorkelling and fishing. The islands are managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The Park's IUCN category is II.[2]

## Fauna

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Up to 60,000 pied imperial-pigeons breed on the islands during summer, providing a spectacle to onlookers as they return to their nests each evening after foraging for rainforest fruits in the mainland and Hinchinbrook Island. Following regular illegal shooting of the birds there during the early and mid 20th Century, the population using the islands was subject to a long protection campaign and monitoring program by conservation activists Margaret and Arthur Thorsborne. There are also breeding colonies of bridled, black-naped, little, lesser crested and roseate terns. Beach stone-curlews breed on North Island beaches.[2] The islands have been classified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because of the global importance of the site for pied imperial-pigeons and lesser crested terns.[3]

## Flora

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The plants of the Brook Islands are only partly known. North Brook Island’s predominant vegetation is a lush, well-developed rainforest with many vines (notophyll vine forest), likely to include some rare and interesting species. Humans, feral animals, and weeds and fires have had less effect on the islands than on the mainland. This has ensured the islands remain as important representative samples of island ecosystems. North Brook’s vine forests feature some very dense areas of the rare palm Arenga australasica. Although this palm is abundant on these small islands, it is rare on the mainland. Golden orchids Dendrobium discolor are abundant on the rocks near the shoreline. The vine forests are poorly known but appear not to have been subject to fire for a long time and are likely to prove botanically interesting when fully investigated. Many of the plants appear to indicate a relationship to the pied imperial-pigeons which regularly transport seed considerable distances and thus, it would appear, enrich the islands’ species diversity. Common canopy species include Semecarpus australiensis (tar tree), Palaquium galactoxylon, Myristica insipida and Alstonia scholaris. The vegetation on the sandspit of North Brook Island is particularly well-developed compared with similar locations in the area.[4]

## History

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Australian Army staff preparing for a mustard gas test on goats on North Brook Island, March 1944

North Brook Island, the largest in the group, was in 1944 the venue for a series of British and American tests on the military uses of mustard gas. Virtually no trace of this remains.[4] A documentary film Keen as Mustard, relating to these and other tests, was released by Film Australia in 1989.

## See also

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* Queensland portal

* Protected areas of Queensland

## References

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1. ^ "Brook Islands National Park (entry 39390)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
2. ^ a b Lavarack, P.; & Muldoon, J.W. (1999). Management Plans - Brook Islands National Park and Goold Island National Park. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service: Brisbane. ISBN 0-7242-4842-0 PDF download Archived 11 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ "IBA: Brook Islands". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
4. ^ a b "Brook Islands National Park and Goold Island National Park Management Plan" (PDF). Queensland Government parks and forests. Retrieved 25 July 2024.

## Attribution

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This article incorporates text by Queensland Government available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

## External links

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* Brook Islands National Park

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National parks of Queensland

Central|

* Baga
* Blackdown Tableland
* Bulburin
* Byfield
* Capricorn Coast
* Capricornia Cays
* Carnarvon
* Castle Tower
* Curtis Island
* Deepwater
* Epping Forest
* Eurimbula
* Expedition
* Goodedulla
* Humboldt
* Isla Gorge
* Junee
* Keppel Bay Islands
* Kroombit Tops
* Littabella
* Mazeppa
* Minerva Hills
* Mount Archer
* Mount Colosseum
* Mount Etna Caves
* Mount O'Connell
* Mount Walsh
* Nuga Nuga
* Palmgrove
* Peak Range
* Precipice
* Rundle Range
* Snake Range
* Taunton
* Warro
* West Hill
* Wild Cattle Island

Darling Downs|

* Bendidee
* Bunya Mountains
* Crows Nest
* Erringibba
* Girraween
* Main Range
* Mount Binga
* Pidna
* Southwood
* Sundown
* The Palms
* Wondul Range

Far North|

* Alwal
* Annan River
* Apudthama
* Barnard Island Group
* Barron Gorge
* Basilisk Range
* Blackbraes
* Bulleringa
* Cape Melville
* Chillagoe-Mungana
* Claremont Isles
* Clump Mountain
* Crater Lakes
* Daintree
* Danbulla
* Davies Creek
* Dinden
* Djiru
* Ella Bay
* Endeavour River
* Eubenangee Swamp
* Family Islands
* Fitzroy Island
* Flinders Group
* Frankland Group
* Forty Mile Scrub
* Great Basalt Wall
* Green Island
* Grey Peaks
* Girramay
* Girringun
* Goold Island
* Hann Tableland
* Hasties Swamp
* Herberton Range
* Hinchinbrook Island
* Hope Islands
* Howick Group
* Hull River
* Japoon
* Kalkajaka
* Kirrama
* Kuranda
* Kurrimine Beach
* Kutini-Payamu
* Lama Lama
* Little Mulgrave
* Lizard Island
* Ma’alpiku Island
* Macalister Range
* Malaan
* Maria Creek
* Marpa
* Michaelmas and Upolu Cays
* Millstream Falls
* Mitchell-Alice Rivers
* Mitirinchi Island
* Moresby Range
* Mount Cook
* Mount Hypipamee
* Mount Lewis
* Mount Spurgeon
* Mount Webb
* Mount Windsor
* Mowbray
* Ngalba Bulal
* Nymph Island
* Oyala Thumotang
* Palmerston Rocks
* Piper Islands
* Possession Island
* Raine Island
* Rinyirru
* Rocky Islets
* Russell River
* Sandbanks
* Saunders Islands
* Sir Charles Hardy Group
* Staaten River
* Starcke
* Three Islands
* Topaz Road
* Tully Gorge
* Turtle Group
* Two Islands
* Undara Volcanic
* Wooroonooran
* Wuthara Island
* Yamarrinh Wachangan Islands
* Yungaburra

North|

* Blackwood
* Brook Islands
* Bowling Green Bay
* Brampton Islands
* Broad Sound Islands
* Cape Hillsborough
* Cape Palmerston
* Cape Upstart
* Conway
* Dipperu
* Dryander
* Eungella
* Gloucester Island
* Halifax Bay Wetlands
* Holbourne Island
* Homevale
* Lindeman Islands
* Magnetic Island
* Molle Islands
* Moorrinya
* Mount Aberdeen
* Mount Martin
* Mount Ossa
* Newry Islands
* Northumberland Islands
* Orpheus Island
* Paluma Range
* Pioneer Peaks
* Reliance Creek
* Repulse Island
* Round Top Island
* Smith Islands
* South Cumberland Islands
* South Island
* Swain Reefs
* Whitsunday Islands

South West|

* Alton
* Chesterton Range
* Culgoa Floodplain
* Currawinya
* Diamantina
* Hell Hole Gorge
* Idalia
* Lake Bindegolly
* Mariala
* Narkoola
* Thrushton
* Tregole

North West|

* Boodjamulla
* Camooweal Caves
* Porcupine Gorge
* White Mountains

Central West|

* Astrebla Downs
* Bladensburg
* Cudmore
* Diamantina
* Forest Den
* Goneaway
* Lochern
* Munga-Thirri
* Narrien Range
* Welford

Wide Bay-Burnett|

* Auburn River
* Beeron
* Beninbi
* Burrum Coast
* Cania Gorge
* Coalstoun Lakes
* Fairlies Knob
* Goodnight Scrub
* Goomboorian
* Great Sandy
* Grongah
* Mount Bauple
* Pipeclay
* Poona
* Tarong
* Woocoo
* Woondum
* Woowoonga

Brisbane and Surrounds|

* Bellthorpe
* Bribie Island
* Burleigh Head
* Conondale
* D'Aguilar
* Deer Reserve
* Dularcha
* Esk
* Eudlo Creek
* Ferntree Creek
* Fort Lytton
* Freshwater
* Gatton
* Glass House Mountains
* Kondalilla
* Lamington
* Lockyer
* Mapleton Falls
* Mooloolah River
* Moogerah Peaks
* Gheebulum Kunungai
* Mount Barney
* Mount Chinghee
* Mount Coolum
* Mount Pinbarren
* Naree Budjong Djara
* Nicoll Scrub
* Noosa
* Nerang
* Ravensbourne
* Sarabah
* Southern Moreton Bay Islands
* St Helena Island
* Springbrook
* Tamborine
* Teerk Roo Ra
* Tewantin
* Triunia
* Tuchekoi
* Venman Bushland
* West Cooroy
* Wickham

Former national parks|

* Blue Lake

Protected areas of Queensland

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North Queensland

Cities|

* Charters Towers
* Mackay
* Townsville

Towns|

* Airlie Beach
* Ayr
* Bowen
* Ingham
* Proserpine

Local Government Areas|

* Burdekin
* Charters Towers
* Hinchinbrook
* Mackay
* Palm Island
* Townsville
* Whitsunday Region

National Parks|

* Blackwood
* Brook Islands
* Bowling Green Bay
* Brampton Islands
* Broad Sound Islands
* Cape Hillsborough
* Cape Palmerston
* Cape Upstart
* Conway
* Dipperu
* Dryander
* Eungella
* Gloucester Island
* Halifax Bay Wetlands
* Holbourne Island
* Lindeman Islands
* Magnetic Island
* Molle Islands
* Moorrinya
* Mount Aberdeen
* Mount Martin
* Mount Ossa
* Newry Islands
* Northumberland Islands
* Orpheus Island
* Paluma Range
* Pioneer Peaks
* Reliance Creek
* Repulse Island
* Round Top Island
* Smith Islands
* South Cumberland Islands
* South Island
* Swain Reefs
* Whitsunday Islands

Places of interest|

* Wallaman Falls
* Whitsunday Islands

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