Fraser Island – World’s Largest Sand Island

Fraser Island is a remarkable natural setting that has received recognition from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. In granting this designation, UNESCO said,

Fraser Island lies just off the east coast of Australia. At 122 km long, it is the largest sand island in the world. Majestic remnants of tall rainforest growing on sand and half the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes are found inland from the beach. The combination of shifting sand-dunes, tropical rainforests and lakes makes it an exceptional site.

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Fraser is a good-sized island but it’s hardly one of the largest. In fact it’s only the fourth largest even in Australia. However, the truly remarkable aspect is that it is formed entirely from sand, shaped by forces of nature over thousands of years. Wind and waves pushed dunes on top of dunes, held in place by the roots of lush vegetation clinging to the surface. Until quite recently the island sustained a logging and a sand mining industry but Australia now protects this wilderness as part of its Great Sandy National Park, just up the coast from Noosa Heads. The island includes a 75 mile beach of packed sand that provides a smooth surface for driving or even aircraft runway (cars must yield the right-of-way to oncoming aircraft in case you ever find yourself in that situation). However the most interesting aspect may be its abundance of unusual freshwater lakes.

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Lake Boomanjin is a rare example of a perched dune lake. There are only about eighty of them on the planet and forty of them are found on Fraser Island. A perched dune lake forms when wind blows an indentation in the sand that then gradually fills with decaying vegetation. Over time the decaying organic matter creates a watertight mat that eventually permeates the sand to form something similar to concrete, almost like a swimming pool. Lake Boomanjin is the largest lake of this type in the world at 190 hectares. Elsewhere on Frasier Island can be found Boomerang Lake, the world’s highest perched dune lake at 130m above sea level.

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Lake Wabby is an example of a barrage lake. Exposed sand on Frasier Island forms into dunes, and the dunes migrate through the power of wind over time. If a dune blows across the path of a stream or another source of water, it acts as a dam and a lake forms behind it. Notice the large dune that created Lake Wabby to the right side of this satellite image.

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Finally, the Manoolcoong Lakes are example of window lakes. These types of lakes form when the wind carves a dent in the sand that extends below the water table, forming a “window” onto what would ordinarily be a subterranean world. The exposed water table appears on the land surface as a pool.

USA States Called Commonwealths

Commonwealth is a term that can be broken into its two basic components to understand its meaning. “Common” refers to the people or to the public. “Wealth” refers to well being or welfare. So commonwealth can be thought of as a system of government that performs in the interests and well being of the people through their consent, rather than for the narrow self interests of a few. This became an underlying principal of several English colonies as they started to assert their independence to eventually form what would become the United States of America. While a large preponderance of what are now fifty United States do indeed call themselves “states,” four of the earlier ones hearken back to those memories of colonial times and choose to differentiate themselves by calling themselves “commonwealths.” As a practical matter it’s a semantical difference and they operate no differently than the other forty-six but it’s an interesting distinction. Those four commonwealths are Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

Virginia

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Virginia called itself a commonwealth before the United States existed so it has worn this label the longest of the four. It was one of the original 13 colonies that came into union to form the United States and was highly influential in those beginning days, the home to many of the early Presidents. One of its luminaries was Thomas Jefferson and his magnificent University of Virginia has been named a World Heritage Site… here is a brief video I took from that location.

Massachusetts

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Massachusetts was also one of the original thirteen and one of the smallest. But it’s home to more than six million people so has one of the highest population densities. Since it’s sometimes called the “Bay State,” one can imagine that the water plays an important role in its heritage. Even today there are a number of ferries that people can take to historic picturesque towns along Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania was the earliest of the four Commonwealths to join the Union, coming only after Delaware. It called itself the Keystone due to its central location and leading role in holding together both the northern and southern colonies. A keystone is found at the top of an arch and is literally the key stone, locking all the other stones in place. Without a well-placed keystone an arch will collapse. Pennsylvania used this as a metaphor for its location, it’s economy and it’s political strength as the colonies struggled in unison for independence.

Kentucky

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Kentucky is the only commonwealth that wasn’t among the original thirteen United States. It came not long afterwards though, at number fifteen. It’s also the only one removed from the eastern seaboard, settled by those early pioneers who pushed into the Appalachian Mountains and towards the Mississippi River during the initial western expansion that wouldn’t stop until it reached the Pacific Ocean.