Moreton Bay’s Indigenous people want North Stradbroke and Moreton islands and parts of Moreton Bay included on UNESCO's World Heritage List like Fraser Island.
If their application is successful, the islands would the sixth and seventh Queensland sites added to the World Heritage List.
However, prominent conservationist John Sinclair, who fought to win Fraser Island’s World Heritage Listing, said a push to add Moreton and North Stradbroke islands could delay Cooloola’s nomination.
Australia now has 19 sites included on the World Heritage List, each recognising an internationally significant natural landscape or cultural event.
Five of those World Heritage sites are in Queensland.
- Fraser Island off Hervey Bay. It was added in 1992.
- The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area straddling the border between New South Wales and Queensland. The rainforests on the Queensland side were added in 1994.
- The Great Barrier Reef. It became Queensland's first World Heritage area in 1981.
- The Riversleigh fossil site in north-west Queensland. It was added in 1994.
- The Wet Tropics of Queensland. These rainforests were added in 1988.
However, Cooloola’s river and estuary has been nominated for World Heritage Listing since 2010.
John Sinclair believes a push to add North Stradboke and Moreton islands should not delay Cooloola’s application.
“It would be nice if those islands met the World Heritage List criteria, but Cooloola has been overdue for 25 years,” he said.
“Cooloola is already on the interim list and if they need to add Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island together it would slow down the nomination of Cooloola for at least another four or five years,” he said.
Mr Sinclair said Cooloola should be added first, as part of the Great Sandy Region, near Fraser Island.
“It has met all the criteria and it is due to come up now,” he said.
“I think we should list Cooloola and add the others later.”
Mr Sinclair said he worried that the impacts of sand mining over 50 years may impact on North Stradbroke’s ability to claim a “pristine” environment.
“One of the biggest elements is integrity and poor old Straddie has been mauled over for half a century by sand mining,” he said.
“And it is not in the same pristine shape that it once was.”
Mr Sinclair said North Stradbroke Island tourism would benefit from having the island World Heritage Listed, but suggested an application for its cultural value may be stronger.
The Quandamooka people are the Indigenous custodians of Moreton Bay. They call North Stradbroke Island "Minjerribah" and Moreton Island "Moorgumpin", meaning "place of sandhills".
Cameron Costello, chief executive of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation confirmed Indigenous people were being helped by Griffith University and the University of Queensland to have the two islands included on the World Heritage List.
Mr Costello said Deputy Premier and new Treasurer Jackie Trad had recently written and offered Queensland Treasury support for an application for World Heritage Listing to be prepared.
“The first step that we have been pushing for is to assess the values so we are all really clear that the islands meet the standards,” he said.
“The Deputy Premier’s promise was to provide funding to get that process moving.”
The Quandamooka people say they have evidence of 20,000 years of continual settlement and scientific evaluation of the significant marine and ecological values of the two sand islands.
Moreton Bay is home or visited by 14 marine mammals, including dugongs, eight species of dolphin and five species of whale, while both islands have perch lakes and wet and dry sclerophyll forests.
Six of the world’s seven turtles live in Moreton Bay, which is home to 154 fish species and 143 coral species.
If the area is World Heritage Listed, it would not impact on local landowners or businesses, but would help tourism and help applications for funding, Mr Costello said.
“And now the dust has settled after the election, we will be looking at how we progress that,” he said.
Quandamooka woman and Algester Labor MP Leeanne Enoch has this week been appointed as Queensland’s new Environment Minister.
Fraser Island Indigenous and community groups are this month recognising the 25 years since Fraser Island received World Heritage Listing in 1992.
The Butchulla people are the traditional owners of Fraser Island and call the island K’gari, which means “paradise”.
Butchulla ranger Conway Burns said Butchulla people now helped manage Fraser Island.
“We have sustainably managed K’gari for a long time now and look forward to having a say in its future for our children,” he said.
“A lot has happened in the past 25 years, but our connection to K’gari goes back some 60,000 years and is worth recognising and celebrating.”
This story first appeared on Brisbane Times.
