Heron Island (Queensland)

Heron Island is a coral cay located near the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 80 km north-east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and 460 km north-north-west of the state capital Brisbane. The island is situated on the leeward (western) side of Heron Reef, a fringing platform reef of significant biodiversity, supporting around 900 of the 1,500 fish species and 72% of the coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef.The island is about 800m long and 300m at its widest, giving an area of approximately 16ha. The highest point, near the western tip, is 3.6m ASL. A dune ridge along the southern shore rises some 3m ASL, lower dunes on the north-eastern side are only about one metre (3 ft) above the sea.Heron Island and an extrapolated version of the research station are the scene of much of the first part of Arthur C. Clarke's The Deep Range.HistoryHeron Island was discovered on 12 January 1843 by the corvette HMS Fly. The ship was surveying the eastern edge of the Great Barrier Reef together with the cutter Bramble. The expedition was commanded by Captain Francis Blackwood and the reason for the expedition was mainly to map out detailed plans for safe passages within the reef. The island was named by Lieutenant Charles Bampfield Yule RN of the Bramble.