Bedarra Island · Great Barrier Reef · Exclusive whole-house stays for up to 9
Bedarra Island, QLD
Bedarra Island · Great Barrier Reef · Exclusive whole-house stays for up to 9
Bedarra Island, QLD
The Family Islands · North Queensland
7 km
off the tropical North Queensland coast
29°C
average temperature
2 hrs
from Cairns Airport to Mission Beach
8,000+ yrs
since it separated from the mainland
Where the rainforest meets the reef
Bedarra Island is one of the Family Islands, in the locality of Dunk in Queensland’s Cassowary Coast region, and sits within the Great Barrier Reef. It lies about 7 kilometres off the tropical North Queensland coast and is reached by boat transfer.
The island is in the middle of the protected Family Islands National Park and a marine conservation zone, so the fish and coral are in fantastic condition. Turtles, dugongs and migrating whales visit its waters, and you can snorkel straight off the beach.
Bedarra is a granite island that was joined to the mainland more than 8,000 years ago. Giant boulders, rocky peaks and steep escarpments rise out of lush rainforest fringed with coconut palms, and the birdlife is remarkable, from honeyeaters to sea eagles.
The nearest town is Mission Beach, a comfortable two-hour trip from Cairns Airport. Find out how to get to Bedarra Island.
When to visit
The average temperature on Bedarra Island is a warm 29 degrees. Here is what you can expect at different times of the year.
September to November
20–30°C
The weather is usually clear and the reef is alive. This is when we have the best water clarity.
December to March
23–32°C
The tropical wet season and the warmest time of year. Bursts of rain followed by beaming sunshine, warm days, cool nights and deliciously warm water.
April to May
The rain has usually eased and the beaches are still warm from the summer heat. A perfect time for exploring nature.
June to August
Peak time on Bedarra Island. Water clarity is generally good, days are warm, nights are cooler, and migrating humpback whales pass by.
Stinger season
Marine stingers are generally around from November to May each year, but the risk in Doorila Bay is generally low.
Snorkel straight off the beach
Bedarra Island sits within the Great Barrier Reef as part of the Family Islands group, and because it is a conservation zone, the surrounding waters are teeming with life.
Beginner and intermediate snorkellers can swim straight off the beach. If you are an advanced snorkeller, we strongly recommend a trip out to the Brook Islands with Great Barrier Reef Safaris.
Wildlife on the island
The wet tropical rainforest on Bedarra is home to a great diversity of animal and insect life: the vibrant blue Ulysses butterfly and the Giant Birdwing butterfly, northern rainforest skinks, Wompoo fruit doves, sunbirds, tree frogs, geckos, forest dragons, tree monitors, pythons and echidnas.
Sea turtles and dugongs can be seen around the island, and Migaloo, the famous white humpback whale, has been spotted from a lookout during its annual migration north in late June.
Mammals are few. The largest is the echidna, along with the fawn-footed melomys, a small native rodent first described by Edmund James Banfield. Bats and flying foxes come out at night, including the Little Bent-wing Bat, while the orange-footed scrub fowl, a large mound builder, is the easiest bird to spot in the rainforest.
Ulysses butterfly
Life on the beach
Rainforest trails
From the Mother Isle to Bedarra
Historical information sourced from Wikipedia.
1770
Captain James Cook charted the ‘Family Isles’ from the Endeavour in June 1770. He named the largest the Father Isle, now Dunk Island, after Montagu Dunk, the Earl of Sandwich. The next largest he called the Mother Isle, which became Bedarra, and the rest ‘The Children’.
Early 1900s
Marine charts first called it Richards Island, then Allason Island. Author E.J. Banfield, the beachcomber of Dunk Island, began calling it Bedarra, a misspelling of the Aboriginal term Biagurra, which roughly means ‘the place of endless water’.
1913
Inspired by Banfield’s book Confessions of a Beachcomber, Captain Henry Allason bought Bedarra from the Queensland Lands Department for just 20 pounds. He and his wife lived there until World War I called him back to Europe.
1934
Allason sold the property to the Harris syndicate of London, and for a time it looked as if it might become a home for underprivileged boys.
1936
Australian landscape artist Noel Wood visited the island and bought land at East Bedarra, beginning almost 60 years of painting and living on the island.
1993
Wood’s land was subdivided, and today eight privately owned houses sit on this part of Bedarra Island.
Painted for 60 years
Artists have always been drawn to Bedarra, and still are today. The most famous of all is Noel Wood (1912–2001), a colourful modernist landscape painter and early conservationist who painted at East Bedarra for close to 60 years. At his eulogy it was said:
“He wasn’t an ordinary person, Noel. He was very kind to people, very sweet. But he never really loved a person, or an animal. What he really loved was his island and his painting.”
Wood named many of the island’s beauty spots and called the Coral Gardens after Banfield’s memories of Dunk Island. His works are held in public collections across Australia and in private collections in the UK and US, but he always returned to his East Bedarra studio and gardens.
Melaleuca BeachThe MangrovesCalophyllum BeachCasuarina BeachValley BeachOrchid BeachTiki BeachHernandia Bay
Your private island is waiting
Experience Bedarra Island
for yourself
