The Whitsunday Islands are an archipelago of 74 islands of varying sizes off the coast of Queensland, part of the Great Barrier Reef. The name of the archipelago can be translated as "Holy Trinity Islands". Only 8 islands in the entire archipelago are inhabited.
Whitsunday is one of Australia's most popular holiday destinations. Most of the islands are national parks and reserves, and the main attractions for tourists are snorkelling and diving off coral reefs, pristine beaches, especially Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, and clear aquamarine water. Whitehaven Beach stretches for 7 kilometres. It is the beach most often depicted in Australian tourist brochures and commercials. More than half a million tourists visit the islands each year.
The islands were named by James Cook, who sailed past on 4 June 1770. He was struck by the beauty of these places and decided to name the islands after the day on which he saw them. Cook thought it was Holy Trinity Day, the seventh Sunday after Easter. It later turned out that Cook's calendar was wrong, and 4 June 1770 was not Holy Trinity Day. However, the name was already firmly established for the islands.
There are always plenty of posh yachts around the islands, where the "rich and famous" from all over Australia come to visit. And for those who are still saving up for their own yacht, one of the many ferries leaving from Airlie will take you there.
Before tourism became the main source of local income, the islands were used for logging, both by the Aboriginal population and later white settlers. Today there is no trace of this industry (except for an old dam used by a sawmill at Sawmill Cove on Whitsunday Island).
The islands can be reached by plane, which departs from the airport of the mainland town of Proserpine and lands on Hamilton Island. From there, you can take a boat to any of the dozens of islands.
