Flinders Reef

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Flinders Reef" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["south-east-queensland", "moreton-island", "reefs-of-australia", "protected-areas-established-in-1998"] topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Reef" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Flinders_Reefscape.jpg" caption="Coral in the reef"] ::

Flinders Reef is a small isolated reef near Moreton Island, 5 km north-east of Cape Moreton in South East Queensland, Australia. It has the highest number of coral species of any subtropical reef system along Australia's east coast and is the nearest true coral reef to Brisbane. Flinders Reef is one of South East Queensland's most popular dive sites. The reef is located within the Moreton Bay Marine Park and is monitored by the Reef Check conservation program. The reef is located within the Tweed–Moreton marine biogeographic region.

There is a second Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea 120 nmi north-east of Townsville. A weather station there is monitored by the Australian Government. A third Flinders Reef exists offshore from the town of 1770.

Fauna

The reef has more than 175 fish species. There are more species and varieties of corals in this one area than any other single reef on the Great Barrier Reef. The diverse amount of marine life include schools of wrasse, sweetlip, trevally, parrotfish, bat, surgeon, turtles and tropical fish. Manta rays, wobbegongs and leopard sharks are among the larger creatures that reside here. Sightings of whaler sharks are sometimes seen on the eastern side of Flinders. During the months of June to September, humpback whales can be seen on the surface as they pass by.

The Australian bluefish, Sixgill stingray, the rare Narrowbar swellshark have been found on the reef.

Green Turtle at Flinders Reef, Moreton Island.jpg|Green sea turtle School of fish at Flinders Reef, Moreton Island.jpg|School of fish Crayfish at Flinders Reef, Moreton Island.jpg|Crayfish Feather star in Flinders Reef, Moreton Island.jpg|Himerometra robustipinna

History

The reef is named after Matthew Flinders who discovered the reef before discovering what would become the city of Brisbane.

In 1986 the Australian Army ship Crusader (AV2767) was sunk near the reef and has become a popular dive wreck. The reef was zoned as a marine park in 1998. The reef was not affected by the 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill.

The reef is often the location for small fishing boat wrecks, and rarely, diving incidents including the death of a Brisbane man in March 2005. It was the site of a helicopter rescue after a dive ship ran aground on the reef in December 2008.

References

References

  1. {{cite QPN. 12779. Flinders Reef
  2. Seanna Cronin. (2009-03-17). "Flinders Reef escapes oil slick". Gold Coast Publications.
  3. "Latest Coastal Weather Observations Flinders Reef". Bureau of Meteorology.
  4. "Dive Flinders Reef, Moreton Bay Marine Park".
  5. Jodie Munro O'Brien. (2008-02-26). "Fine over Moreton dive death". Queensland Newspapers.
  6. (2008-12-28). "Police attempt to rescue crew from dive boat". Queensland Newspapers.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

south-east-queenslandmoreton-islandreefs-of-australiaprotected-areas-established-in-1998