Natural:
It contains landforms and vegetation types which are representative of coastal and island sand masses in mid eastern Australia, which are all in a relatively undisturbed state; it contains dune systems scientifically important for understanding the evolution of these Aeolian landforms; it is a place where natural dune processes have occurred relatively undisturbed in the past and is important as a place where these processes may continue undisturbed in the future; it contains plant species which are rare, uncommon or of biogeographic significance; it contains relatively undisturbed bird habitats which are rare because of their high degree of naturalness; it is a place of high aesthetic and wilderness value; it is an important place for benchmark studies of natural dune processes.
Details of significance: Moreton Island is the least disturbed of all coastal and island sand masses in south eastern Queensland, and its vegetation and landforms are in an essentially natural state. The island contains Aeolian landforms representative of the coastal plains and island sand masses of mid eastern Australia. These include parallel frontal dunes, transverse high dunes including both stabilised dunes and naturally unvegetated ones, and freshwater lakes. Mount Tempest, a high dune 280m tall, is thought to be the highest stabilised sand dune in Australia and possibly the world. The lakes and swamps associated with the dunes have added significance as there are few such areas in eastern Australia which are in a natural state. The dune systems of the island are significant as they represent several phases of instability followed by stabilisation with vegetation which occurred during the Holocene and Pleistocene. The combination of dune sand and beach sand units on the island differs from those in other coastal and island sand masses in the region. These units are scientifically important for interpreting the geological and geomorphological evolution of the Aeolian Quaternary sand masses in southern Queensland. The modern beach and dune sands along the east coast of the island and the active high dune sand masses are particularly important in this respect. The island is also the only place currently known in the region where Pleistocene dunes have been naturally destabilised and are being actively reworked. Moreton Island is highly significant as an area where the natural dune processes of erosion, accretion and stabilisation by vegetation, as well as the development and infilling of lakes and swamps, have been able to continue relatively undisturbed by European activities, and can continue undisturbed in the future. The island is also significant as a place for ongoing benchmark studies of these dune processes, aimed both at understanding the geomorphological mechanisms involved and the significance of these mechanisms in terms of managing coastal environments. Moreton Island contains the largest, essentially undisturbed areas of vegetation representative of the coastal lowlands in south-eastern Queensland. The major vegetation types include strand and beach ridge communities, heaths, sedgelands and freshwater lakes, MELALEUCA QUINQUENERVIA open forests and woodlands, and open forests and associated communities of high dunes dominated by eucalypts, particularly EUCALYPTUS SIGNATA and/or E. INTERMEDIA. The eucalypt communities have added significance as they differ from most other coastal sandmass areas in south-eastern Queensland in lacking rainforest and in having only small areas of E. PILULARIS tall open forest. They also differ from coastal sandmass vegetation in north-eastern New South Wales in which E. SIGNATA is generally absent. Ten plant species reach the limits of their distribution on the Island and are thus of biogeographic significance. DURRINGTONIA PALUDOSA, EUCALYPTUS PLANCHONIANA, LEUCOPOGON ERICOIDES, OLAX STRICTA, PETROPHILE CANESCENS and SCHOENUS ERICETORUM all reach their northern limits of distribution on the island, while LEPTURUS REPENS, PETALOSTIGMA PUBESCENS, LUMNITZERA RACEMOSA and SMITHIA SENSITIVA reach their southern limits of distribution.Three plant species occur on the island which, in an Australian context, are rare, uncommon or poorly known. They are SCHOENUS SCABRIPES, SYNCARPIA HILLII and DURRINGTONIA PALUDOSA. The latter species is known in Queensland only from Moreton and North Stradbroke islands, where it is restricted to swamp and dune swale habitats. The island is the only known area of coastal lowlands in the region in which the cane toad is absent. It also has some of the least disturbed salt marshes, tidal flats and sandy beaches in mid-eastern Australia. These are important habitats for migratory and native birds. Because of the relatively undisturbed nature of most ecosystems on the island, it has significance as a primitive area with high wilderness values. The diversity of natural landforms, including dunes, a rocky headland, freshwater lakes, swamps and sand deserts, juxtaposed with oceanic and bay waters, and complemented by the diversity of natural vegetation, also affords the island a high aesthetic value. These values help make the island a major wilderness area for recreation in southern Queensland.
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