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Lady Elliot Island - A Short History
By Jeremy Cuff
Lady Elliot Island has a surprisingly varied and turbulent history leading up to its current status as an “eco resort”.
It’s thought that the island began to form around 3000 years ago, mainly due to a drop in sea level of about 1 metre. The island reached its current size around 1000 years ago.
The island was first sighted in 1816 by Captain Thomas Stewart aboard the Lady Elliot ship on a voyage from Calcutta to Sydney. He named the island after his ship and continued his journey to arrive safely in Sydney. The island was sighted again in 1819 by Lieutenant Philip Parker King aboard the Mermaid who described it as “low and wooded”. It was then forgotten until 1843.
With the increasing colonisation of the Australian east coast, there was an associated demand for ships that served the new ports. Little detail was known of these waters, and with the frequent loss of ships, the Admiralty commissioned a major survey of the Great Barrier Reef area. It was no small task!
The first landing on the island was in 1843 where the naturalist J. Beete Jukes recorded a scene not dissimilar to what is there today. His notes made reference to the bird and turtle populations.
As an aid to safe shipping, a temporary light was erected in 1866 but it was soon toppled in a storm. It was followed by a more permanent structure which was completed in 1873. The island retained a permanent lighthouse staff for many years, until automation made the role redundant. Today, the original lighthouse keeper’s cottages are now used to house the resort staff.
The island’s fortunes went into a downward spiral when a lease was granted for the mining of guano. The resulting destruction was disastrous for the island as it was stripped of foliage and the nutrient layers of the “guano soil”. To make matters worse, goats were released to roam the island freely, mainly as a source of food for the lighthouse staff and any shipwrecked mariners. They weren’t eradicated until 1969.
Over the years, rumours of a ghost inhabiting the island have added a supernatural twist, with several accounts now in the public domain. Reports of mysterious footsteps, objects inexplicably falling and smashing, and even apparitions of a large woman have all been recorded by island visitors!
In 1969, the fortunes of the island began to swing towards conservation. Conservationist and businessman Don Adams suggested that an airstrip on the island would provide an easy access point to the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef . And with that idea, he came to an arrangement with the Commonwealth Department of Transport to build an airstrip in conjunction with facilities for tourism.
Today, the island has recovered much of its original foliage cover, with some areas still off limits to allow the regeneration to complete itself. The birds are back in force, the reefs are healthy and turtles can return to the beaches of their birth to lay eggs in safety and protection. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Summer 2007
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