Fraser Island in the News

A royal visit by Prince Harry and Princess Megan

Breaking News – A royal visit  scheduled for Fraser Island

On Monday 22nd October Prince Harry and his new bride Princess Megan will visit Fraser Island as part of their first Australian tour together.

Their schedule is hectic however they are believed to be visiting Eurong on the Eastern beach and Kingfisher Bay Resort on the western side.

Exact information is hard to find out as many are tight lipped about the finer details.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed The Duke and Duchess of Sussex  will unveil a plaque  as part of the Queens Commonwealth Canopy Dedications, a initiative to preserve forests.

Schedule of events

It is believed that the public will be able to meet the royal pair on the jetty at Kingfisher Bay Resort.

They are also believed to be visiting the iconic Lake McKenzie and meeting with some of the local Butchulla tribes people for a traditional smoking ceremony.

It certainly is a major event for the island that will be sure to bring world wide attention.

So if you are lucky enough to be on the island at this time you may get a glimpse of the royal pair. Lets hope the island puts on some stunning weather on the day for them.

It really is a historic occasion and one we should all embrace as this media attention brings awareness to the value and importance of our beautiful World Heritage listed Island.

Planning to visit for this occasion

If you are planning to visit the island for the day to witness this occasion I suggest you book your barge from River Heads to Kingfisher Bay Resort today.

You may also be able to fly in via Air Fraser Hervey Bay but seats and schedules are limited.

Otherwise head to Eurong from Inskip point in your own 4WD and hope to see them along the eastern beach.

I must admit I am a royal admirer and this lovely couple brings a smile to my face.

Now to hear the news that they are soon to  welcome a baby into their family is truly a blessing.

And a royal one at that.

Breaking News on Fraser Island! Now Rename K’gari

Fraser Island is having a name change?… K’Gari ….Here is what we know about this  subject.

•  ” K’Gari ”  meaning Paradise was named by the Butchulla people. They are the original inhabitants of the Island. ( K’Gari pronounced gurri )
• In 2014 the Butchulla people were granted Native Title rights. They now wish to share prominence and recognition with  a dual name being ” K’Gari / Fraser Island.  (This is similar to the situation with Ayres Rock / Uluru that had a name change back in 2002. )
• Spokes person for the Butchulla tribe Ms Bird  sees this renaming as a “partial victory ” for the traditional aboriginal land owners.
• Environment Minister  Dr. Steven Miles said the name change would be effective immediately as from 23 April 2017
• Three signs will be installed near the barge landings for all the visitors to see, some 500,000 + that visit each year.
• The signs have been designed by the islands Ranger, Conway Burns, who is also a corporation director.

Will the K’gari Name Change effect visitors ?

No not directly or in the immediate future. The only change you will see is the signs that have been installed.

There has been concern that this name change will be the beginning of dual management of the island between the traditional land owners and National Parks.

This may cause conflict with decision making and the financial management.

Only time will tell how this will proceed and no doubt it will be closely watched by many especially current land owners like us.

The name K”gari was derived by a dream time story of a spirit princess.

She helped create the island and fell in love with it, and laying down there for eternity.

Butchulla translates into ” people of the sea” and archaeological evidence suggests that aboriginal people settled on the island some 5000 years ago.

Tribesmen from what is now known as the Marybrough and Hervey Bay area travelled to the island in winter due to the abundance of seafood.

The rescue and recovery of a little Tawny Frogmouth Owl….

This little orphaned Owl was brought to us by someone who had found him all alone on the side of a sandy track, with his mother no where to be seen.

As local residents of Fraser Island and avid nature lovers we have earned a reputation for caring for injured or orphaned animals. Unfortunately in a remote area there is not the convenience of a resident veterinarian or wildlife organisation.

Our 12 year old daughter Lotus is passionate about birds particularly and has a wealth of knowledge for such a young age. (She aspires to be an Ornithologist and travel the world studying birdlife.)

We estimated from his size and feathers that he was about a month old and was  probably  pushed or fell from his nest.

Our daughter Lotus immediately fell in love with his silky soft feathers and huge big eyes. Amazingly they seemed to have an instant connection and she became his substitute mother.

We presume that he is a HE..and until he lays an egg…. a He, he will be…. His name is IRWIN ( as in remembrance to Steve Irwin  the wildlife warrior )

The trials and tribulations…

FEEDING IRWIN

Our first concern was what we were going to feed him…..”Google”  gave us some hints…so off we trotted to our green house to collect some creepy crawlies…caterpillars, moths and worms.

We mashed them with our mortal and pestle so they were easier for him to swallow  and digest, he had a HUGE mouth which was surprising. Irwin needed to be fed every 2 hours otherwise the squawking became unbearable.

Lotus soon became familiar with sleep deprivation and the joys of parenting a baby….owl.

He was growing rapidly and we started feeding him raw mince and boiled eggs. He loved the eggs the most. As you can not feed owls water directly, we added it to his mince to ensure we minimised his risk of dehydration.

We tried to mimic his mothers feeding technique and held the food above his head and when he opened his mouth as we placed it deep into the back of his throat.

By his 3rd week with us he had grown more feathers and we decided he was ready for some flight practice.

FLYING LESSONS

As owls are nocturnal  we only practised flying lessons at night time. We set up a few milk crates in the house in which we tried to coerce him to fly from one to the next.

With a meaty treat on each crate he soon got the hang of our little flying circuit. Strangely he always wanted to get to the highest point of the house like the fridge and photo frames which never went well, often crashing into the fridge door and walls.

The training was short bursts of wing flapping to each crate.

Every day we spaced them a little further apart. The downside of this was that he had been spending lots of times indoors and seems to have developed a love interest in the TV….He loves a good soapy especially Bold & the Beautiful.

In fact he has found a comfy sitting spot perched on the back of our sofa.

Within a few weeks he had mastered indoor flying and we decided the next step was the great outdoors. Our backyard is full of huge trees and surrounded by National Park bush land.

We sat him on a log and watched from a far waiting for him to fly onto a nearby tree branch. He wobbled around clumsily in a circle checking his surroundings and then he flapped his little wings hard and fast and flew.

It was amazing to see him take off  until we realised he was returning back to the comfort of our  house and sofa!!  Eventually he was flying back and fourth from the log to our house, landing on the patio chairs to watch TV.

As he grew he got extremely vocal, so noisy in fact that we decided it was time to put him outside for the entire night on his own.

Lotus placed his little crate and cushion high up on the Bow of our boat where we knew he would be safe from predators.

We left an outdoor light on to attract bugs into the area so hopefully he would try to catch his own food instinctively.

Thankfully, with lots of prayers he was on his crate in the morning safe and soundly asleep.

RELEASE BACK TO THE WILD

Irwin grew very big rapidly and we were concerned that he was becoming dependent on our interaction with him.

We decided that in his best interest we would refrain from unnecessary contact with him.

Slowly but surely he moved further away from us. It has been a year now and he still returns occasionally at night time. The only difference now is that he often brings a friend with him to visit.

We are sure that his friend is another Tawny owl that we rescued years before that we called ” Bucket “…ironically he was found as a baby trapped in a bucket.

We hope they are living happily ever after with each other.