St Helena Island National Park Queensland |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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View of the butcher's shop and bakery at St Helena
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Coordinates | 27°23′36″S 153°13′54″E / 27.39333°S 153.23167°ECoordinates: 27°23′36″S 153°13′54″E / 27.39333°S 153.23167°E |
Established | 1979 |
Area | 75 ha (185.33 acres) |
Managing authorities | Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service |
Website | St Helena Island National Park |
See also | Protected areas of Queensland |
St Helena Island is a heritage-listed island in Queensland, Australia, 21 kilometres (13 mi) east of Brisbane and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the mouth of the Brisbane River in Moreton Bay. Originally used as a prison, it is now a national park. Local Australian Aborigines called the island Noogoon but it was renamed St Helena after an aboriginal named Napoleon was exiled there in 1826. The island is visible from the mainland, particularly the suburbs of Wynnum, Manly and Lota. It has its own permanent water supply, a spring in the centre of the island. Many migratory birds use the island as a watering hole; it forms part of the Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage Important Bird Area, so identified by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of migratory waders, or shorebirds.
In the 19th century St Helena Island was a quarantine station which became one of the most profitable prisons in Queensland history. The island was used to house prisoners and staff for 65 years. Many of those involved in the 1891 Australian shearers' strike were imprisoned there along with murderers and bushrangers.
Four kilometres from the mouth of the Brisbane River lies St Helena Island. For more than 60 years from 1867, St Helena was the place of imprisonment for many hundreds of society's outcasts, for here was located colonial Queensland's foremost prison for men.