North Stradbroke Island (often simply called Stradbroke or the island) is the second-largest sand island in the world, 37 km long and 11 km wide at its northern (wider) end, located on the subtropical eastern coast of Australia. It is one of three sand barrier islands that form the outer protective edge of Moreton Bay, which extends 100 km from north to south. Brisbane, the capital city of the State of Queensland, is located midway along this bay. The population of Brisbane, 1.8 million, is expected to double by 2025. South-East Queensland is one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia. North Stradbroke Island is about 40 km from Brisbane and is included in the local government jurisdiction of Redland City. Cleveland, the main town of Redland City, is the embarkation point for car ferries and water taxis to the island; crossing Moreton Bay takes about three-quarters of an hour by barge, or half an hour by water taxi. North Stradbroke Island is separate from the much smaller South Stradbroke Island, formed in 1896 after storms and high tides breached a narrow isthmus and divided the island mass into two. Immediately north of Stradbroke lies Moreton Island, which is largely protected as national park. Stradbroke Island’s permanent community of 2016 (2006 census) is dispersed among three small towns about 15 to 20 km apart: Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout. Each has a particular history and character. The island residents (who include a significant Aboriginal population, the Ngugi, Nunukal and Gorenpul Traditional Owners) are engaged in hospitality and tourism, commercial fishing, e-based professions, the arts and sand mining. Although the population of South-East Queensland is undergoing rapid increase (from 118,000 in 2001 to an estimated 170,000 in 2016), low growth is forecast for the island. Dunwich is the gateway to Stradbroke: the vehicle barges and water taxis arrive there from Cleveland. Half the population of the town is Indigenous, and Aboriginal culture is represented in some nascent cultural businesses and enterprises and in the curriculum of the school attended by pupils drawn from the whole island. Amity Point, the smallest township, is a quiet coastal hamlet and attracts holidaymakers, especially boating anglers and campers. Tourism and commercial fishing are its principal industries. Point Lookout is the main tourist destination, a rocky outcrop bounded by surfing beaches and bushland. The village of less than 1000 permanent residents undergoes surges in population when visitors arrive to stay in holiday houses and beach-front camping grounds. At peak times, locals are outnumbered by visitors by as much as 20:1 and the island population can swell to 30,000. The National Trust in 2002 listed Point Lookout as ‘an endangered coastal village under threat’. Point Lookout, named by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook in 1770 on his exploratory journey up the east coast of Australia, is the most easterly extremity of Queensland, at the point where the South Pacific Ocean meets the Coral Sea. Point Lookout's original name is Mooloomba. Stradbroke Island is also called Minjerrabah, and Moreton Bay is referred to as Quandamooka, names reflecting the long Aboriginal occupation of the region. Impacts on island ecosystems ‘While the island has had a strong association with humans that extends back...21,000 years, the impacts on the ecology since European settlement [185 years] have been profound. In addition to facing exploitative impacts associated with commercial whaling [which ceased in the 1960s], fishing and recreational fishing in the wider Moreton Bay region, the Island’s sensitive ecology has been significantly disrupted through sand mining activities and intense seasonal visitation [tourism] impacts.’ (’Redland Shire Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy: Background Paper’, ATS Consulting Solutions, March 2003, p11) The island’s natural environment has been widely disturbed and modified by sand mining, by other human activities associated with tourism (notably camping and driving on beaches), by commercial and recreational over-fishing, by water extraction, by feral animals and domestic pets, by weed infestations, by pollution with herbicides and pesticides, by mainland infrastructure inappropriate to conditions on a sand island, and by over-development of small residential sites (mostly under 800 sq m) that occurs when too much building is shoehorned onto too little site, at the expense of the natural bush that is meant to be retained. Despite this, Stradbroke Island – with its spectacular scenery and beaches, numerous species of marine and terrestrial wildlife, varied landscape experiences, and excellent climate throughout the year – offers abundant opportunities for direct contact with nature. Most of Stradbroke Island is located within the Southern, Myora, Central and Northern Sections of the Register of the National Estate. The waters surrounding the island are part of the Moreton Bay Marine Park which provides habitat for turtles, dugongs, dolphins, whales, as well as wading birds protected under bilateral and multilateral international agreements. The island’s wetlands, foreshore swamps and interconnecting land are all listed Ramsar sites and habitats for rare, vulnerable and endangered species of flora and fauna. The marine and intertidal flora consist of saltmarsh plants, mangrove and sea grasses, which all have significant roles in the ecosystem, providing habitat, nurseries, food, sediment stabilisation and buffers to mitigate the impacts of increased nutrient loads flowing into the bay and sea from septic outflows, stormwater runoff and garden fertilisers. The Eighteen Mile Swamp is a wetland that runs along the eastern coast of the island behind the frontal dunes and flows south into Swan Bay, a protected fish hatchery. This unique wetland is Interim Heritage Listed owing to its formation by a storm or other weather event, its size and protecting marine-cut high escarpment. Eighteen Mile Swamp is threatened by impacts from mining operations on the adjacent high dunes, and also by water extraction by the mining company. ‘Island ecosystems are known to be very fragile because of their small size and isolation. Their flora and fauna are thus particularly vulnerable to extinction.’ (Ellie Durbidge and Jeannette Covacevich, North Stradbroke Island, 2nd edition, SIMO, 2004, page 12) Some plant species have become extinct or very rare since European occupation. Weed infestations dominate some areas of native bush, especially near townships and camping grounds. Additional pressures on the island’s natural environment are inflicted by pollution (including septic run-off) and herbicides and pesticides. Nevertheless, ‘Nineteen species of frogs...51 species of reptiles, more than 250 species of birds, and 45 species of mammals have been recorded from the island. This is a very diverse fauna.’ (North Stradbroke Island, page 38) To date there is only one national park designated, Blue Lake National Park, a small section of the island’s total area of natural bushland. The Bligh government has announced new national park by 2017 tfor 80 per cent of the island. However, it is not clear yet whether pristine areas in mine paths will be included before mining destroys them. A public consultation program has commenced. Stradbroke Island’s wildlife is diverse and generally abundant. Unusually, a population of approximately 1000 bottlenose dolphins inhabits the waters around Point Lookout. They represent the largest population of bottlenose inhabiting the smallest area in the world (Dr L Chilvers). Indo-pacific Humpback dolphins live in small family groups around the island, and Common and Spinner dolphins pass through occasionally in large travelling pods of up to 100 or more. It is also not uncommon to see small groups of kangaroos or wallabies grazing on sand dunes early in the morning or at sunset. Sometimes shy koalas can be spotted snoozing in trees near wetlands. Koalas – like dolphins and whales – ignite people’s imaginations and especially delight overseas visitors. Less immediately exciting perhaps, but as representative of the island, are the tiny acid frogs, the big lace monitor lizards and the various (rarely encountered) snakes. (The protective totem of the island is Karboora, the carpet snake, a beautifully patterned python.) The false water mouse, one of the rarest mammals in Australia, inhabits the mangrove areas on the island’s western, bayside flank. Turtles swim in the island’s crystal clear waters, along with manta rays, dolphins, dugongs and sharks, and migrating whales pass by, to and from their northern calving grounds, during winter and spring. Stradbroke Island is a bird lover’s delight. Kites, ospreys and sea eagles hover high above ocean beaches. Pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets and ibis share long stretches of sand with gulls, terns and oystercatchers. In September, migratory birds arrive from Siberia, Alaska, China and Mongolia. Native ducks swim on the inland lakes. The bush rings with the calls of kookaburras, and in domestic gardens, brightly coloured lorikeets feast on blossoms. Towards evening the air is shrill with birds returning to their roosts. Nesting bush stone curlews are common in all three towns; their eerie cries at night once heard are never forgotten. Owls, too, are common although rarely seen. Foxes and feral and domestic dogs and cats prey on birds and small mammals, including koalas. Exotic poisonous cane toads, too, have had a devastating impact on the native wildlife. And koalas and wallabies are killed on the roads and by dogs, both domestic and feral. Koalas are also at risk from sand mining operations that destroy their habitats. All these threats to wildlife can be managed and contained, given the positive will to protect the island. ‘The use of 4-WD vehicles presents one of the greatest challenges to Minjerribah’s environment (mining excluded).’ (’A Tourism Strategy for Quandamooka: A Report for the Quandamooka Land Council’, James Cook University, 1996) During holidays and many weekends, hundreds of vehicles grind deep tracks through the sand on Main Beach and Flinder’s Beach, destroying countless small and microscopic organisms living under the sand, and threatening roosting shore birds and turtle nests. Recklessly driven vehicles destabilise the fragile dunes. The presence of 4WDs also destroys the peaceful amenity of beaches and compromises the safety of those on foot. Redland City Council has responded to long-standing concerns about lack of adequate management of Flinders Beach, the most popular summer camping beach and a major attraction for drivers of off-road vehicles. Flinders is so popular that in a single day during peak times, more than 2000 vehicle trips may occur on the beach; indeed, legally the rules of the road apply, turning the beach into a highway. Thousands of campers create a temporary tent city behind the dunes at Flinders. While generations of Australians have enjoyed the exhilaration of camping on the beach, the greatly increased numbers of campers and 4WDs impose unsustainable pressure on the environment. In 2005, following consultation with many island stakeholders, the Council formulated a management plan for Flinders Beach that incorporates long-term scientific research into the impacts of vehicles on microscopic marine life in the sand, as well as immediate practical developments including the appointment of compliance officers, installation of educational signage and improved infrastructure. Some of this research is available on this website, in the Archives section. Water On the driest continent on earth, with drought (and flood) a normal part of the weather cycle, and erratic global warming effects increasingly evident, water is becoming the fundamental concern of local authorities throughout Australia. Redland Shire Council relied on the vast freshwater aquifer that lies underneath Stradbroke Island to supply 70 per cent of the growing city from 1988-2008. The State government took over ownership and management of the aquifer supply in 2009, and is conducting a Water Resource Plan to regulate the future management of the resource. Island water will be fed into the South-East Queensland Water Grid. Over the aeons – no one knows how long – subtropical rains percolating through the dunes created Stradbroke Island’s groundwater. This aquifer is dynamic, involving deep recharge, continuous outflow in a seaward direction, and discharge into coastal swamps and creeks. The aquifer is recharged by rainfall. The island’s annual average rainfall during the decade from the late 1990s declined from 1677 mm to 1350 mm (measured between Dunwich and Point Lookout). 
Diagram from Department Natural Resources and Water There is a hydrodynamic connection between the ‘lens’ of freshwater beneath the island and the surrounding seawater. This ‘holds’ the freshwater in place, even below sea level at the saltwater interface. Over-pumping would risk saltwater intrusion into the freshwater, polluting it and causing irreversible changes. There are indications of serious environmental changes occurring on the island, notably to species in the unique Eighteen Mile Swamp in the vicinity of the water extraction site there, Herring Lagoon. Water in the past was pumped from Herring Lagoon and from a bore field on the western side of the island, and then piped under Moreton Bay to the mainland. The sand mining company CRL pumps from Herring Lagoon. Excessive pumping from this site has resulted in changes to the surrounding vegetation. For decades, both the Council and the Department of Natural Resources and Water did not put in place the necessary monitoring bores to provide data to provide feedback about fluctuating water levels. However, this was largely rectified in 2007 when monitoring bores were installed, and they will over time inform the whole-of-island water model that will be the main tool to establish safe future water extraction levels. Sand mining Since 1950, Stradbroke Island has been mined for silica sand (for glassmaking and foundry uses), and for mineral sands such as ilmenite, zircon and rutile. Mining leases, which are off-limits to the public, cover 52 per cent of the island. The barge service and roads and electricity supply were initially provided to service mining companies. After more than 60 years of mining, mineral resources are considerably depleted. Yarraman mine is scheduled to close in 2014. The silica sand industry shows no sign of quitting the island yet. Much of Stradbroke has been earmarked for national park, a conflicting use. Mining has resulted in irreversible ecological damage: de-stabilisation of the water table, draining of some inland lakes, destruction of wildlife habitats, major sand slips, and the misaligned placement of sand tailings at 90 degrees to the original ancient parabolic dune structures. Old-growth forests are wasted: 97 per cent of timber felled in the mine paths is burnt. Mining’s detrimental impacts to the environment also affect the island’s tourism potential. Revegetated areas will take many hundreds of years to regenerate, scarring the landscape and reducing the island’s biodiversity and resilience. ‘Mining destroys the landscape and ecological values of land. It severely impacts on cultural values and in many cases has destroyed cultural resources, including sensitive habitat and breeding areas...Mining activities have caused damage to natural water systems, including to catchments, especially by altering the complex underground hydrological conditions and the cutting of channels through Eighteen Mile Swamp... Mining company activities have in many cases restricted Aboriginal access to their traditional land while at the same time establishing a web of unformed roads throughout the island. Mining roads, which are continuously and illegally used by tourists, are a conduit for pest species of vegetation etc and are having disastrous impacts on ecological systems.’ (‘North Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah Planning and Management Study: Aboriginal Cultural Issues Component Study, Stage Two Report’, 2000) SIMO has a watchdog role and endeavours to persuade the Department of Environment and Resource Management to apply statutory regulations to protect the environment. In the past the EPA has been unwilling to prosecute the mining companies for numerous serious instances of environmental damage. In 2010, DERM is prosecuting Unimin for illegally taking and selling sand for construction and landscape uses, a practice that has apparently been conducted for decades. CRL is also in court to appeal RCC's decision of 2008 not to grant a development appliction to allow it to take sand for construction uses. CRL is wholly owned by Unimin, a private Belgian company. The island's economy used to be dominated by mining. But fewer workers are island-based these days, and the future for Stradbroke lies with tourism. A positive legacy of mining, when it ceases, will be plant nursery skills and knowledge in regenerating the reconstructed dunes, and possibly an open-air mining site left as a museum and future tourist attraction. Fishing The island fishing industry is unusual in that unlike nearly every other commercial fishing area in Australia, the fishermen are not compelled to sell all their catch to a central processing market, but are permitted to sell part of it locally. The opportunity to purchase – and also to catch – fresh fish is a major factor in Stradbroke Island’s enduring popularity. Commercial fishing is by three methods: trawlers (generally boats of 15 m to 25 m in length with crews of three or four), individual operators in smaller boats, or beach netting schools of fish directly off the island’s ocean-side beaches. The catches consist of seasonally migrating school fish (mullet and tailor), reef fish, game fish (mackerel, sword-fish, wahoo), and crustaceans (prawns, crabs and a local delicacy, Moreton Bay bugs, a sort of mini-lobster). In addition, on the north-western side of the island are oyster leases that produce some of the finest (and cleanest) oysters in Australia. Recreational fishing is a prime reason why many visitors come to the island. Entire families can be seen rod fishing from the beaches. Fishing is a one of the great social levellers. For some, it’s a competition against the fish, for others a form of relaxation that’s sometimes akin to meditation. And everyone enjoys cooking and eating the catch. Over the last 170 years Moreton Bay has become one of the most intensively fished areas along the entire Queensland coastline, with more than 432,000 recreational fishers living in the Moreton Bay region. The bay now accounts for one third of the state’s recreational fishing effort, even though it’s just 3 per cent of the coastline. (L E Williams, DPI). This human pressure on fisheries, when combined with nutrient, pollution and sediment run-off affecting both coral and sea grass beds, has resulted in a critical need for increased protection. In 2004 a proposal for a fish farm in Moreton Bay was successfully opposed by local environmental groups concerned about disease and pollution. In 2008 the Moreton Bay Marine Park was extended from 1 per cent to nearly 15 per cent, in a complicated network of no-take zones and conservation zones. While this increase in the Marine Park is welcome, it's still not enough: scientists and marine park planners tend to agree that a minimum of 20-40 per cent of a marine region set aside in green zones is more effective for preserving biodiversity and increasing fish stocks. In many marine parks worldwide, including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, experience has shown that adequately sized and properly spaced no-take zones can boost fish numbers. Our new park has been criticised as having many small zones, often too far apart, which reduces their effectiveness. It also makes it difficult to understand and for enforcers to police. Another issue involves the local commercial fishers who have been hit hard with the new zoning and excluded from more areas than recreational fishers. This ignores the reality that recreational fishers catch at least three to four times as many fish as commercial fishers in the bay area, according to the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries. A more even-handed and and less political approach may be required. On the other hand, new moorings and ‘no anchoring areas’ have been set aside in the park, which is an excellent initiative and worthy of being implemented further throughout the bay. We all want to eat, catch or swim with Moreton Bay’s marine creatures, and they also have a right to live in safe havens. With this in mind, the enlarged Marine Park is a significant but small step in the right direction. Whales Tropical whales such as Brydes and Minke are sighted year round as they follow the big shoals of bait fish along the inshore currents. Humpback whales, once hunted almost to extinction, migrate over 6000 km each winter in steadily increasing numbers from Antarctic waters up the eastern coast of Australia to warmer waters to mate and give birth. Point Lookout on the north-east corner of the island is the best place on the east coast of Australia to view the whales from land, as 98 per cent of the population swim past within sight of the headland at Point Lookout (Dr D Paton et al). Visitors line the headlands in the winter months enjoying the sight of whales spouting and breaching just offshore, and the many nursing mothers passing by accompanied by pale grey newborn calves. Orcas, known as Killer whales, can be spotted in spring preying on mothers with vulnerable calves on their return journey south. Whale watching generates more revenue than whale hunting ever did, and in 2004 attracted 230,000 tourists in Queensland. The ocean around Point Lookout is closed to boat-based whale watching, to protect the reliability of the long running population surveys conducted every three years from the headland. Whales are at times harassed by boats and jetskis approaching too near them. Research is necessary to establish what are acceptable levels of marine noise pollution and to offer ways to protect these creatures. Development pressures For a long time now, Point Lookout has faced pressures caused by excessive developments on small plots. Development has been constrained (in theory) by a local area town plan to protect the town’s natural environment and built character. But Redland Shire Council was routinely lax in enforcing the Development Control Plan and subsequent Integrated Planning Act for Point Lookout, permitting developers to ignore key development controls. The result is numerous large, high buildings with prominent concrete parking areas at odds with the modest, vegetated, small-scale character of the town. Amenity is progressively eroded as more and more visitors are accommodated in over-sized holiday houses packed onto small sites. Both Dunwich and Amity Point face similar development pressures, though to a lesser extent for the moment. Many houses on the island still rely on septic tanks. Point Lookout is partly sewered but has an aging sewerage treatment plant that was declared unable to cope with more development years ago. Nothing has been done to upgrade the plant, and there is still no likelihood of improvements being undertaken. The environmental cost of treated waste being disposed of in settling ponds that seep down through the sand and into waterways has not been estimated. Friends of Stradbroke Island (FOSI) was formed in 1988 to stop an inappropriate development at Cylinder Beach, the most popular (and pressured) family beach at Point Lookout. FOSI monitors development proposals with the aim of preserving the island’s unique features: coastal villages, remarkable landscape and beaches, and areas of significant vegetation and wildlife. SIMO and FOSI have joined forces at times to take (the then) Redland Shire Council to the Planning and Environment Court on several occasions to overturn the Council’s approvals for developments that failed to meet the requirements of its own planning code for Point Lookout. SIMO and FOSI have been successful in court cases, and continue to monitor development. The Council is also responsible for much inappropriate mainland infrastructure on the island, including the Main Road, which comes with its own standard of street lighting and road markings that detract from the island’s low-key, natural atmosphere and encourage motorists to drive faster than they would on a simple country road. SIMO is urging Redland City Council to resume ownership of the road from Department of Main Roads and implement traffic calming measures. SIMO and FOSI have been fighting since 2004 to save the Cylinder Beach littoral zone from being covered by an overflow car park. We argue that there should be no parking on the beach. We want the Council to encourage pedestrians and ensure a slower, safer road. Locating parking along the road would help to slow down traffic. Tourism Tourism is a significant contributor to Queensland’s economy: the state received almost half of the 1.96 million international visitors to Australia in 2003, as well as more than 21 million domestic tourists. Queensland is known as ‘the sunshine state’: ‘beautiful one day, perfect the next’. The warm climate – especially the clear, sunny winters – is a big attraction. ‘North Stradbroke Island is the “jewel in the crown” of tourism in Redland Shire...The island has strong appeal to recreational fishermen, surfers, divers, 4WD enthusiasts, campers and people simply looking to holiday in a beautiful coastal environment. The inland areas of the island contain a diverse and sensitive ecology including swamps, lakes, dune systems and large stands of eucalypt, wallum and heathlands. Dunwich and Amity Point have managed to retain a distinctive charm that reflects their traditional roles and heritage. Point Lookout is the principal tourist hub but it is straining under the pressures of development and intensive visitation during peak seasons. ‘There have been some significantly negative environmental and social impacts of tourism on the island resulting from development proceeding without suitable constraints and inadequate visitor management processes.’ (‘Redland Shire Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy, Discussion Paper’, ATS Consulting Solutions, March 2003, page 3) Stradbroke Island measures up to every childhood dream of an ideal family holiday destination. To reach the island requires an exciting trip across the bay, leaving the mainland behind. The island scenery is spectacular. Bush tracks lead down to the fine white sand of the surf beaches. Towns are small enough to get about on foot. Life is casual and the locals friendly. Camping is a popular summer family holiday tradition. There are many outdoor activities including fishing, swimming, surfing, diving, boating, whale watching, bird watching, canoeing on the lakes, bushwalking, cycling, picnicking. The fishing is good. Wildlife encounters are frequent and often close-up. Children can run free. Until quite recently, this quiet, casual holiday destination remained relatively unknown to all but regular visitors (many who trace their relationship with the island back through several generations). Tourism is a growing force and has mixed impacts environmentally and socially. Stradbroke is actively promoted to off-road vehicle drivers, who are permitted along 30 km of Main Beach and 8 km of Flinders Beach. The sense of freedom that comes with driving on an open beach is spoilt only by the dozens or, at peak times, hundreds of other 4WDs churning deep furrows in the sand. The presence of vehicles and the buzz of jetskis mar the peaceful enjoyment of the island’s faraway beaches. Stradbroke is a place where life is relaxed and letting off steam is generally tolerated. That easy-going atmosphere is part of its attraction. However, the dark side of this sunny freedom includes loud partying and some alcohol-fuelled violence. ‘The relative lack of management constraints is attracting strong demand from an insensitive user group and...Stradbroke Island...[is] regarded as one of the last surviving bastions for unconstrained activities and behaviour.’ (‘Redland Shire Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy: Background Paper’, ATS Consulting Solutions, March 2003, p 50) Until 2006, Point Lookout had no permanent police presence. During September school holidays, the town has found itself virtually under siege from hundreds of teenaged school children, many supplied by parents with alcohol (and with access to drugs) and allowed to rent houses and party without parental supervision. September has been a nightmare for local residents and family holiday-makers. However, a campaign targeted at mainland schools (mostly private) and strong policing on the island, as well as the efforts of rental agencies to restrict who may rent properties, have helped to dampen the island’s reputation as a place where anything goes. Also, Redland City Council recently implemented a voluntary code of conduct for letting agents (the effect of which is being evaluated) and distributed pamphlets to remind visitors of their responsibilities to the community and the environment. Most visitors happily fit in with the locals and value the island's peace and quiet. Annually between 450,000 and 500,000 tourists apparently now visit Stradbroke Island, not counting day-trippers (these figures need to be verified). Research is needed to establish how many visitors arrive at peak times, the carrying capacity of the fragile beach-side camp grounds, and the impacts of vehicles on bush tracks and beaches. The tourism industry has not yet incorporated Indigenous values or tourism strategies, and Stradbroke’s Aboriginal identity is not widely promoted. ‘Tourism to Quandamooka [Moreton Bay] is nature-based but is not guided by the principles of ecologically sustainable development and most of the tourists are not “nature-oriented”. There is no ecotourism. Nor is there any discernible Aboriginal component except for a limited number of educational cultural tours which reach less than 1% of current visitors... ‘The values of Aboriginal culture and heritage are ignored and currently play little or no role in tourism management. Sites of significance are continuously violated. There is no understanding of the holistic, integrated complexion of man (the cultural environment) with nature (the bio-physical environment) as a basis for management practices.’ (‘A Tourism Strategy for Quandamooka: A Report for the Quandamooka Land Council’, James Cook University, 1996) However, in 2010, Redland City Council is appointing an Indigenous island business, Minjerribah Camping, to manage Stradbroke's camping grounds. This is a significant development. The new company is expected to implement environment-friendly policies and make use of Indigenous caring for country principles in the management and maintenance of the camp grounds. Nature tourism has yet to take off on Stradbroke. Meanwhile, some local business operators are embracing Tourism Queensland's sustainable tourism initiative and beginning to implement environment-friendly ideas, keen to see Stradbroke become a 'guilt-free' destination. Why are islands important? The force behind Stradbroke Island’s claim for protection from mining, over-development, unsympathetic infrastructure and exploitative tourism, and the urgency for more national park, is its role as alter ego, or other, to the mainland. The conurbation that stretches beyond Brisbane north and south along the coast is one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions, with expanding tentacles of development reaching deep into most of the remaining tracts of farms and bushland between suburbs and towns, replacing once-distinctive places with generic suburban sprawl and identical, low-grade shopping malls. This development is also killing off koalas, Queensland’s state icon, with rapid efficiency. As the mainland inexorably becomes a sea of suburban development and roads, so Stradbroke Island’s stocks rise as a near, yet remote, place of intrinsic beauty and serenity. As more people seek simple, unmediated experiences of nature, so the island’s environment and landscape become more highly valued. As sense of place gives way to consumer-driven sameness, so the island’s difference becomes rare and precious. Of the islands in Moreton Bay, all but two – Moreton and North Stradbroke – are compromised in their island-otherness by physical connections or suburban resemblance to the mainland. Bribie Island’s bridge tethers it to Brisbane as an outlying suburb. Moreton Island, with a resort and three tiny settlements, remains a beautiful wild place, preserved as a national park, with a role as natural foil to the mainland; however its beaches and bush tracks are heavily trafficked by 4WDs, their numbers somewhat negating the wilderness experience; and Moreton remains difficult to reach. South Stradbroke Island being small has a single boutique resort and a few camping areas and private dwellings. The small southern bay islands – Russell, Karragarra, Lamb, Macleay, Coochiemudlo – are all being tamed by suburban development. It is only Stradbroke Island – with its Aboriginal cultural heritage and identity, its numerous unspoilt beaches, areas of pristine bushland, its lakes and wetlands, significant flora and fauna, three historic townships, fishing industry and low-key way of life – that possesses the authentic credentials of other to Brisbane and South-East Queensland. Otherness is a quality that all islands possess, in degrees, by virtue of their isolation (‘isola’, island) and the difference from the mainland that physical detachment breeds. Less worldly than towns and cities, more provincial than rural counties and outlying districts, islands tend towards independence, self-containment and perhaps, too, introspection. Island people often manifest traits of rugged individualism. Buccaneers, bohemians, nonconformists and misfits feel at home on islands. Some people are imprisoned on islands, others escape to them. The veneer of civilisation is thinner on an island, or perhaps nature is closer and experienced more keenly. The wild and the tame are in closer proximity to each other. Islands are places of shipwreck, exile, escape and retreat. Romantic and dangerous, they possess the fascination of miniature worlds. An island can often be traversed on foot or horseback, a tiny realm that generates a feeling that the rest of the world is far away. Time slows on an island. Conventions and inhibitions slip away. People are free to take time to see and listen deeply and to enjoy the simplest pleasures to the full. Islands abound in myths, folklore and literature. Islands are the domains of seekers, from Odysseus to Robinson Crusoe. Islands are potent metaphors: treasure island, desert island, enchanted island, island of the dead, island of dreams. Jung saw the island as refuge from the menacing assault of the ‘sea’ of the unconscious, or as the synthesis of the consciousness and the will. Stradbroke Island richly deserves to be acknowledged as other to Brisbane and the South-East Queensland region, esteemed for its special character and history, and protected by sensitive planning and infrastructure provisions and as a national park. | 
