Fraser Island is significant for a range of natural and cultural features. Natural: it is the largest sand island in the world, and contains dune systems of high geological and geomorphological significance; it contains a large number of hydrologically important oligotrophic perched lakes; it contains a high diversity of acid freshwater habitats which support a highly adapted acid fauna; it contains rare and biogeographically significant species of plants and animals; it contains rare and ecologically significant vegetation types, including rainforest and eucalypt forest; it is a place where a wide range of natural physical and biological processes have been able to continue relatively undisturbed in the past, and where they may continue in the future; it is an important area for benchmark studies in dune geology and geomorphology, limnology, hydrology, forest ecology etc; it is an area of very high aesthetic value, and high wilderness, educational and recreational value.
Detailed National Estate values: Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. The Fraser Island Environmental Inquiry final report (1976) found that it contains the greatest number of distinct and independent dune systems found anywhere in the world. The dunes have the oldest measured coastal dune age sequence, with some dunes thought to be about 400,000 years old. Active dune processes, particularly those related to sandblows, are still occurring naturally on the island. The dunes are important for understanding The geological and geomorphological history of island sand masses in eastern Australia, and for understanding the ongoing mechanisms of dune formation and destruction. The island contains a large number of perched lakes which numerically are thought to represent the greatest development of such lakes in the world. Lake Boemingen in the south of the island is thought to be the largest known perched lake in the world. The lakes are significant features for understanding past climatic and sea level changes and processes relating to dune formation and destruction. The perched lakes are of added significance due to their unusual oligotrophic nature, ie, the waters are well oxygenated but contain very low levels of nutrients and exhibit low biological activity. At least one lake on the island appears to be shifting away from an oligotrophic stage by natural processes, and is thus important for allowing an understanding of the mechanisms involved. The island contains large areas, and a large variety, of undisturbed acidic freshwater habitats including lakes, swamps and streams, which are now rare in Australia. High specialised acid frog and fish species are associated with these habitats. Some of the species are of great significance in terms of their rarity and scientific value for faunal studies in ecology, evolution and biogeography. The most important species include the frogs, LITORIA COOLOOLENSIS and PSEUDOPHRYNE sp. which are the most abundant on Fraser Island, and the sunfish Melanotaenia sp. Nov. which is restricted to three lakes on the island. The occurrence of the carp gudgeon (HYPSELEOTRIS KLUNZINGERI) on the island is also of biogeographic significance as it is otherwise confined to the Murray-Darling River system. Although parts of the island have been disturbed through forestry operations, the remaining areas contain relatively undisturbed plant communities representative of coastal and island sand masses in southern Queensland. The rainforest vegetation (mixed to complex notophyll vine forest) on the island is particularly significant as it is rare for rainforest to grow on high coastal dunes. The rainforest and eucalypt communities on the island are important for the high biomass levels they have achieved while growing in soils of very low nutrient status. The island is of biogeographic significance botanically, as it contains approximately forty higher plant species which are at the northern limits of their distribution, and two mangrove species at their southern limits. Other plants of significance on the island include CRYPTOCARYA FOETIDA, an endangered species, ELEOCHARIS OCHROSTACHYS, a vulnerable species, and IPOMOEA LITTORALIS, a species rare in southern Queensland. SYNCARPIA HILLII (satinay), a highly restricted species occurring only on coastal and island sand masses of southern Queensland, achieves its maximum forest development on Fraser Island. The terrestrial fauna on Fraser Island include a number of species which are rare, of limited distribution, or at the geographic limits of their distribution. The most important species is the ground parrot (PEZOPORUS WALLICUS) a species considered to be in danger of extinction. Estuaries on the island are important habitats in eastern Australia for migratory wading birds. Because of its physical isolation from the mainland, and the relatively undisturbed nature of many of its landscapes and ecosystems, the island is an important area for benchmark studies in such fields as dune geology and geomorphology, the hydrology, ecology and evolution of the acid lakes and their fauna, and botanical studies in nutrient cycling and biogeography. The island is also of high educational value in these fields at both secondary and tertiary levels. The diversity of landforms, vegetation types and other features on Fraser Island give it a very high aesthetic value. Outstanding features include the freshwater lakes, the rainforests, eroded cliffs of coloured sands, sandblows and long ocean fronting beaches. Relatively undisturbed areas of the northern third of the island also have significance as wilderness areas. The aesthetic and wilderness values of the island, coupled with its diverse landscapes and biological resources, make the island an important place for a wide range of recreational activities and a place of inspiration for writers, poets and artists.
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