tropical

Nestled close to the coast northwest of Mackay is a group of hilly continental islands. Newry, Rabbit, Outer Newry, Acacia, Mausoleum, and Rocky Islands are protected as part of Newry Islands National Park. The islands are wild and windswept with rocky, exposed headlands and sandstone cliffs. Rabbit, the largest island, has sandy beaches. A Grassy open forest with gnarled ironbarks, bloodwoods, and blue gums covers most of Newry Island. Small patches of dry rainforest grow in sheltered pockets on the southern slopes. Hoop pines tower over the canopy of Mackay tulip oaks and mountain ash. Orange-footed scrubfowl build nesting mounds in the rainforest. This is the most southerly limit of the pied imperial pigeon, a migratory bird that feeds on rainforest fruits. The islands and surrounding waters are part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and are protected. Seagrass beds around the islands provide a habitat for the threatened dugong. In summer, green turtles nest on Rabbit Island. Source: austhrutime.com/newry_islands_national_park.htm

Newry Island lies 200 m off the south-eastern tip of Rabbit Island. It is a smaller island, just under 1 km long, with a maximum elevation of 75 m. The island is protected from the Trades by Outer Newry Island and conditions are usually calm around the island, apart from strong tidal currents. The island has three small beaches. The northern beach (1084) is 250 m long and is bounded by densely vegetated, 40 m high headlands. It faces northeast and consists of a 50 m wide high tide beach fronted by 100 m wide sand and rock flats. Beach 1085 is a 50 m pocket of sand immediately east of the northern beach and is similar in character. Source: beachsafe.org.au/beach/qld/mackay/seaforth/newry-island-2

Henry William Mobsby was born on 17 Aug 1860 at Hove, Sussex, England, and came to Queensland in 1883 with the landscape artist Isaac Walter Jenner, whose daughter, Mary Ellen, he later married. Mobsby had studied art and design at the South Kensington School of Arts and at the School of Art, Brighton. He had diplomas and certificates from the London Chamber of Commerce, the City and Guilds Institute, the Cripplegate Institute and the South Kensington School of Arts. Mobsby was an instructor in Decoration and Photography at the Brisbane Technical College before being appointed artist and photographer with the Department of Agriculture and Stock in 1897. In 1899, he was also appointed to the Chief Secretary’s Department and the Intelligence and Tourist Bureau. Mobsby’s photography gained international distinction and he officially represented Queensland at the Franco-British Exhibition in London in 1908, the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 (where he took a motion picture certificate course), the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924, and the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in 1925 and 1926. Mobsby gave many lectures on Queensland, its history, products, scenery, buildings, etc., illustrated by lantern slides. He also made a number of radio broadcasts in the 1920s. He retired in 1930, and died on 9 Apr 1933 at his home at 100 Station Road, Indooroopilly. He is buried in Toowong Cemetery. Source: manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/downloads/uqfl181.pdf

The Longfin Damselfish is on my purse: