Whitsunday Island

▪ island, Queensland, Australia

      largest of the Cumberland Islands, lying 6 miles (10 km) off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Coral Sea. An inshore, coral-fringed continental island, it measures 12 by 8 miles (19 by 13 km), has an area of 42 square miles (109 square km), and rises from steep cliffs of volcanic rock to Mount Whitsunday, 1,426 feet (435 m). The island lies between the coral formations of the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Passage, which is 20 miles (32 km) long and a minimum of 2 miles (3 km) wide. Both the island and the passage, which separates the Cumberlands from the mainland, were reached on Whitsunday (Pentecost) 1770 by the British navigator Captain James Cook. The explorer Matthew Flinders sailed through the passage in 1802. The island is well forested and once supported a timber industry. It is now a national park and resort, accessible from the mainland by launch.

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