Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is situated approximately 175 km north of Brisbane in coastal south-eastern Queensland. It consists of the Fraser Island and Cooloola sections of Great Sandy National Park and the intervening land of Inskip Point, excluding the township of Rainbow Beach. This area is a huge sand mass, which supports a wide range of coastal vegetation communities including vine thickets, wallum swamps and open forests and woodlands. This IBA is designed to capture a large population of Black-breasted Button-quail, estimated to possibly support 250 breeding females. The climate is subtropical with warm winters, hot summers and mean annual rainfall of more than 1200 mm.
The following species which are listed as globally threatened by IUCN have been recorded: Red Goshawk and Black-necked Stork but their current status is unknown. The following species which are listed under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act (1992) have been recorded: Plumed (Marbled) Frogmouth (vulnerable), Australian Swiftlet (rare), Grey Goshawk (rare), Red Goshawk (endangered), Square-tailed Kite (rare), Lewin's Rail (rare), Sooty Oystercatcher (rare), Eastern Curlew (rare), Little Tern (endangered), Glossy Black-Cockatoo (vulnerable), Coxen's Fig-Parrot (historic records only; endangered), Ground Parrot (vulnerable), Powerful Owl (vulnerable), Sooty Owl (rare), Southern Emu-wren (vulnerable); and the following non-breeding seabirds: Red-tailed Tropicbird, Southern and Northern Giant-Petrel (all vulnerable). The Atlas of Australian Birds contains a single record of the endangered Australasian Bittern for the period 1998 to 2008 (Atlas of Australian Birds database).
Non-bird biodiversity: This IBA supports four species of frog, six species of mammal, five species of reptile (excluding sea-turtles) and 26 species of plant that are listed as rare and threatened under the Queensland government's Nature Conservation Act (1992). It contains a number of ecosystem types which are considered to be threatened.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Weed and fire monitoring and control may be necessary to preserve bird habitats. Ecosystem damage (mainly hydrological) needs to be minimised during maintenance of council roads. Urban infrastructure needs to be regulated at Inskip Point.
See separate section.
Queensland government, Cooloola Shire Council and private freehold lands.
Site access / Land-owner requests
The national parks are freely accessible although most areas are difficult to get to and require experienced drivers of 4WD vehicles on sand. Many public or council lands exist on Inskip Point, which is therefore moderately accessible to all. Private lands on Inskip Point are not accessible.
Michael Mathieson (Queensland Environmental Protection Agency) wrote the nomination. Key contact Group: Queensland Parks & Wildlife, Sunshine Coast / Burnett region.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cooloola and Fraser Coast (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cooloola-and-fraser-coast-iba-australia on 23/12/2024.
