which the foundations of the mainland are made.”
Of the Cumberlands he noted particularly the
high peaks and the “rocky cliffs and hillsides...for the
most part, covered with a dense growth of a hand-
some species of pine”. When viewed from the deck
of a steamer, he wrote in The Great Barrier Reef
of Australia: Its Products and Potentialities, the effect was
“picturesque, almost Scandinavian”.
The way to think of these islands is not as
individual protrusions from the ocean, but rather as
the remains of otherwise drowned landscapes
from a time – about 19,000 years ago – when the
coastline was 140km east of where it is today. The
climate warmed, oceans rose, and 10,000–6000
years ago, the coast was inundated, creating the
islands that exist today.
Because of their historic connectedness, many
of these ancient hills support similar ecological com-
munities, but they also have their differences – for
example, Keswick has no natural water source, but
St Bees has 14 springs. These have supported a wide
range of livestock from the early 1900s, including
cattle, sheep and horses.
And, as well as the koalas, there’s an expanding
population of swamp wallabies, which were intro-
duced at about the same time, and the last stragglers
of introduced goats.Rite of passage. The South Cumberland
group’s main islands – Keswick, top left,
and St Bees – are separated by the
Egremont Channel, a 25m-deep crossing
created by a drowned river valley.
Outer limits. Bushy Islet –
90km from the mainland and
only halfway to the outer reef- is a tiny cay surrounded
by lagoons and coral reef.
BUSHY ISLET: EDWARD-DAMER DAWSON
70 Australian Geographic