Lindeman Islands National Park

Australia: The Land Where Time Began

Lindeman Islands National Park

What's special?

Beyond the Whitsunday Passage lies the Lindeman group of islands. Like other islands in the Whitsundays, this group formed when a mountain range was drowned by rising sea levels.

Lindeman was formed from the remains of molten rubble spewed from large volcanoes. Smaller islands have a resistant volcanic core while larger islands in the group are made up of granite.

Lindeman Island has a variety of vegetation types including rainforest in sheltered pockets, open forest in drier areas, grasslands and wetlands. The Aboriginal people who visited these islands knew Lindeman as “Yara-Kimba”, the place of snapper and bream. Frequent burning maintained the grasslands on Lindeman Island.

The islands and surrounding waters are part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and are protected.

Exploring Lindeman Islands

Camp at Boat Port (Lindeman Island) Neck Bay (Shaw Island) or Naked Lady Beach (Thomas Island).

Boat Port is a quiet campsite in a beach scrub setting with a toilet and a picnic table. Neck Bay (Shaw Island) and Naked Lady Beach (Thomas Island) have no facilities but a beautiful sandy beach. Campers must be self-sufficient. Open fires and generators are prohibited. Take water, a fuel stove and insect repellent. Remove all your rubbish from the islands.

Enjoy the sunset over Lindeman Island from the Neck Bay camping area. Walk to Mt Oldfield on Lindeman Island for a magnificent view over the islands.

While water is usually clearer on the northern sides of the outer islands, snorkelling over the reef flat at high tide can still be rewarding.

Go birdwatching around the wetlands on Lindeman Island. See forest kingfishers, swamphens and bush stone-curlews.

Seasonal bird restrictions apply from 1 October to 31 March. Beach access is not permitted within the seabird nesting area on Shaw Island (the beach east of Burning Point) and visitors must observe a 6-knot speed limit within 200m of high water mark.

Beware of marine stingers and cyclones during the warmer months.