Hamilton Island: Protecting the Environment for the Future

Great Barrier Reef

Hamilton Island, the largest inhabited island of the Whitsundays Islands, is located at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef; a world heritage listed site and the largest coral reef in the world. Thousands of tourists – both domestic and international – visit Hamilton Island each year to enjoy the idyllic location. As such, ecological sustainability is vital to protect the Island and its surroundings to ensure this can continue for many generations to come.

Glenn Bourke, Hamilton Island's CEO said the protection of the Island and the surrounding Great Barrier Reef is a significant one, saying: “The Great Barrier Reef is not only a favourite holiday destination for travellers from around the world, but also home to an abundance of marine life, a key driver for Australian tourism and business, and a national icon that all Australians are proud to call our own.

“As the largest inhabited Island of the Whitsundays Islands, we are committed to playing our part to protect this world heritage site and Australian natural wonder. This focus is more crucial than ever as plans for more dredging along the Reef are discussed. Such plans would see up to five million tonnes of seafloor torn up and dumped into the Great Barrier Reef region which concerns us greatly.

“This is just one of many pressing environmental issues at hand threatening our reef such as carbon pollution, warmer ocean temperatures, runoff from land use, ocean acidification and rising sea levels. In light of this, over the past decade Hamilton Island has implemented and adopted several positive environmental initiatives and we will continue to work on ways to improve and reduce our impact on the environment,” said Mr Bourke.

Examples of such initiatives include Hamilton Island's support and participation in marine park research, including the Eye on the Reef program; an assessment and monitoring program that enables people from all walks of life — Marine Park rangers, marine tourism staff, scientists, fishers, tourists and other reef users — to report their Reef sightings and observations to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Hamilton Island prides itself on having state of the art sewerage treatment facilities that have been upgraded to cope with the destination's growing demand. The solid and liquid waste is treated through this tertiary treatment plant producing 'A' class treated effluent. Over 95 per cent of the treated effluent produced is reused for irrigating parks and gardens ensuring that the environment and surrounded reefs are protected from this waste.

Hamilton Island has a cutting edge, self-managed recycling program and facilities, the only fully operational recycling centre in the Whitsundays region. Glass is crushed on the island and is then used by the gardening department on garden beds and for drainage projects. Cardboard, plastic, paper, aluminium cans and steel cans are compacted and sold along with scrap steel, aluminium and copper on the mainland. Green waste and timber are ground to produce mulch, reducing the need for additional soil conditioning products to be delivered to the island.

To minimise silt runoff into the surrounding waters and reef communities, silt and gross pollution traps on storm water drains and water courses are being continually installed. Innovative building design, guidelines and regulations also ensure soil disturbance is minimised, natural slopes are maintained and any silt or runoff which may otherwise enter the water is captured or contained.

Hamilton Island encourages its guests to consider minimising the use of its housekeeping laundry services. Housekeeping uses only phosphate-free cleaning chemicals and, where possible, only non-toxic products. Power-tags in rooms shut off electricity supply when guests leave their rooms to assist in saving energy. Where possible, energy efficient lighting is used to reduce power consumption.

Only service vehicles exist on Hamilton Island. Guests travel around the Island via shuttle buses, foot or the popular golf buggies. To improve the amenity of the island, the existing petrol powered buggies are being replaced with 85 per cent of buggies now electric powered.

Proactive management and continuous monitoring of water sport activities on the island prevents any directly related damage to the reef and marine life. Many of the water sports providers have been acknowledged for such efforts including Sea Kayaking Whitsundays, based at the Hamilton Island Marina, who has received Advanced Ecotourism Accreditation. Such accreditation is only awarded to Australia's leading and most innovative ecotourism providers who consistently achieve best environmental practice.

Hamilton Island is also involved in several wildlife programs aimed at reducing the impacts the resort has on the local fauna. This includes reducing artificial feeding points, reducing artificial habitats, invasive species management and wildlife relocation efforts. Guests are educated to not feed the wildlife on Hamilton Island but are given the opportunity to learn more about and get up close and personal with unique Australian species at WILD LIFE Hamilton Island, a popular attraction with many guests.

Mr Bourke encourages every visitor to, and the local community on Hamilton Island to join us in our effort to learn more about and protect the extraordinary Hamilton Island and the surrounding Great Barrier Reef, saying: “With everyone's help, we can together take action today to preserve the natural beauty of Hamilton Island and the Whitsundays for future generations.”

For more information on how to experience Whitehaven Beach from Hamilton Island, visit: http://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/about-us/environment/.