History | World Heritage Criteria 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

How Hinchinbrook Island meets World Heritage Criterion:

Criteria 3:
":...contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance."

"..Hinchinbrook Island is one of Queensland's best known national parks and is also the largest of the State's island parks.  It contains a divers array of flora, fauna, habitat types and geological formations.  In particular it is important for the length of undeveloped coastline- a scarce commodity in the rapidly developing Wet Tropics Region of North Queensland.  But above all Hinchinbrook Island is known for scenery.  The rugged, often cloud-covered peaks are a spectacular feature seen by all travellers on the Bruce Highway between Ingham and Cardwell.  The scenery of Hinchinbrook Channel is nothing short of awe-inspiring...."(GW Mercer Regional Director Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage in the Forward to the draft Hinchinbrook Island Management Plan 1994)

Hinchinbrook Island was included in the Wet Tropics Study conducted by the Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland 1986 not only because of its important vegetation, especially its mangrove forests, but also because of its magnificent scenery.  With and are of 395 square kilometres, it is the largest island in the wet tropics.... The difficult climb to the summit of Mount Bowen provides magnificent views of the white sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the unique almost parallel tidal channel of the mangrove systems of Missionary Bay to the north and the winding channels of the mangroves of Hinchinbrook Channel to the west"  Hinchinbrook is indeed a unique "passage landscape" one of only four such passage systems in Australia. 

PO Box 3
Cardwell
Queensland
Australia 4849