Dunk Island

island, Coral Sea

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Article History

Dunk Island, island in the Family Islands group, 3 miles (5 km) off the coast of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It lies north of the entrance to Rockingham Bay, which is an inlet of the Coral Sea. Coral-fringed and composed of granite, Dunk Island has an area of 2 square miles (5 square km). Its surface, densely covered with vegetation, rises to 800 feet (240 m). The British navigator Captain James Cook named the island after George Montagu Dunk, Earl of Halifax. It is one of the least-spoiled resorts of the Great Barrier Reef. Its principal settlement is Bramma Bay in the west, which is accessible by air from Townsville and Cairns on the mainland. A bird sanctuary and national park, Dunk also has examples of cave art executed by its once-substantial Aboriginal population. The island was made famous by the writings of a British-Australian journalist and naturalist, Edmund James Banfield, who lived there from 1897 to 1923.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.