Coastal Observations: Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Heron Island is a coral cay island located 72 km NE off Gladstone, Queensland on the Tropic of Capricorn (Fig. 1 and 2). It is on the Southern part of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef extending along the North-East coast of Australia. The island area is only 42 acres with a circumference of 1.8 km. The photographs show several aspects of the island, including the wreck of HMCS Protector, the wooden gantry previously used to transfer safely people and supply from the outer reef to the lagoon and the deepwater harbour with the concrete block system used to maintain the tidal range and times in the reef despite the harbour excavations.