Sunset at Whitsundays Islands

Die Whitsunday Islands (deutsch Pfingstsonntagsinseln) sind eine Inselgruppe vor der Ostküste des australischen Bundesstaates Queensland. Die Whitsunday Islands bestehen aus 74 Inseln, von denen 17 bewohnt sind. Die meisten Inseln haben Nationalparkstatus und gehören zum Whitsunday-Islands-Nationalpark, dazwischen liegt ein 35.000 km² großer Marine Park, der sich von Sarine im Süden bis Cape Upstart im Norden zieht. Die Whitsunday Islands sind Teil der Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Das Great Barrier Reef befindet sich 35 Seemeilen östlich, aber auch die Inseln sind von kleineren Riffen umgeben.

The Whitsunday Islands is a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres (560 mi) north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island. The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro People and the Gia People (Birri Gubba Language Group), the Juru Clan of which has the only recognised Native Title in the Region. The term is a misnomer, based as it is on Captain Cook’s naming of what is now known as the Whitsunday Passage (in Cook’s Journal, Whitsunday’s Passage) in the belief that the passage was discovered on Whitsunday, The Sunday of the feast of Whitsun or Pentecost in the Christian liturgical year, observed 7 weeks after Easter. As the International Date Line had not been established it was actually Whit-Monday. Contention has existed as to exactly what islands are within the informally named Whitsunday Islands, in particular as to the southern extremity and the inclusions to the west. What is certain is that they lie within the chain named Cumberland Isles by Captain Cook (now officially approved as the Cumberland Islands) and a reasonably defined section of that chain and surrounding waters have become known worldwide as The Whitsundays based on a contraction of the Whitsunday Islands designation. Q: Wikipedia