Great Keppel Island, Queensland

Keppel Konnections Ferry from Yeppoon to Great Keppel Island takes about 30 mins

With the slogan back in the 1980's 'Get Wrecked' Great Keppel Island was a party goers paradise. Today it is a mere shadow of its former hey day with an abandoned resort and a sprinkling of locals. The island appears to rest sleepily off the coast of Yeppoon, yet harbours many secrets and an underbelly of mistrust and disloyalty. 

The Keppel Group of Islands broke away from mainland Australia millions of years ago, most other islands are formed from reef and shell sediment making them a uniquely diverse natural environment. The islands were named by James Cook after he sailed past in 1770, but were not inhabited by Europeans until much later. A memorial plaque on the island's foreshore reflects upon the native inhabitants the Woppaburra and Ganumi people of the Darumbai nation of the island and invites us to respect their forced removal from the island in 1902. 

A resort was opened on Great Keppel Island in 1968, but has remained closed since 2008 when a proposed redevelopment by the current owners who purchased the property in 2006 did not receive the required financial or political backing. A news article by SBS titled, 'Whatever happened to Great Keppel Island' was a fascinating read and paints a graphic picture of what life on the island has been like in the past ten years since the resorts closure. Locals at war with each other, politicians at odds for and against a redevelopment, a fractioned native title holder group. It's a shit-fight to say the least.

The island itself is beautiful and the beaches of which there are 17 boast pristine white powdery sand lapped by turquoise waters, but the neglect is evident. We walked to the top of Mount Wyndham, then ventured to Long Beach on the south side of the Island. We had an enjoyable morning walking on our own followed by some chill time on the beach and a drink at a local shop before the ferry took us back to the mainland. Walking adventures and beaches are what we crave and came to Great Keppel Island to experience, but hopefully a low impact resolution for the resort can be resolved in the not too distant future so that more people can experience this island getaway in Central Queensland.