A researcher's paradise

UQ Digital Content Producer Matthew Taylor and Senior Communications Officer Katie Rowney travelled to Heron Island with a team of researchers to learn more about the work taking place at the research station

Maybe it's the lack of mobile phone coverage or the way everyone is dressed in thongs and boardies, but Heron Island Research Station doesn’t feel like a place of business. There’s a relaxed "not a problem" attitude from almost everyone you encounter. But underneath the smell of sunscreen and salt is a team of staff and researchers fiercely passionate about their work.

The station is on the south beach of Heron Island, a coral cay in the Bunker Group of islands at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a two and a half hour, 80 kilometre trip offshore from Gladstone, on the Heron Islander, a catamaran run by the resort that shares the island with the station. The origin of the island’s name is immediately clear on arrival, with a white reef heron perched in scrub near the jetty.

With no land-based predators, birds have the run of the island and can be found almost everywhere. A large population of black noddy terns nests in the pisonia trees, using large flat leaves and their own droppings to build small platforms in the branches. It’s not uncommon to see 20 birds nesting in the same tree, but the trees can be the birds’ downfall. Pisonia seeds form a sticky residue that glues birds feathers together, preventing them from flying away or seeking food. Their bodies eventually end up fertilising the same predator tree that killed them. Some researchers take pity on the birds, washing off the resin that binds them, but most let nature take its course.

Researchers first travelled to Heron Island in the 1930s, drawn by its unique setting in the Great Barrier Reef. Initially, they used the resort facilities for their research. The island was declared a national park in 1943, and plans took shape to establish a purpose-built research station.

In 1950 the Great Barrier Reef Committee applied for a five-acre lease on the island for scientific research. Heron Island Research Station construction began in 1951, and the station was operated by the Great Barrier Reef Committee until it was acquired by The University of Queensland in 1980.

Today the station is a world-class teaching and learning facility that attracts researchers from across Australia and around the globe. It has wet labs, teaching labs, seminar rooms and a library and computer room. There’s a flotilla of research vessels, a host of diving equipment, commercial kitchens and a range of facilities to cater to research and school groups. The station is equipped with high speed internet and can comfortably accommodate 120 guests.

An evening walk around the island during November through to March turns up more than seaweed and sand. Visitors have to dodge large turtles making their way to up past the high-tide mark to lay their eggs. Resort guests and researchers spot the tell-tale trails of the turtles in the sand and settle in to watch them dig out a large body-pit and lay their eggs.

It’s a far cry from the 1920s, when Heron Island was best known for its turtle soup cannery. The cannery was converted into a resort in the early 1930s, with turtle-watching a big drawcard for tourists. Researchers also travel from around the world to observe these old souls of the ocean in their natural habitat.

From January to June the turtle hatchlings can be seen scurrying down the beach. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service volunteers patrol the beaches to make sure enthusiastic tourists don’t hurt the hatchlings’ chances of survival by picking them up or obstructing their paths. UQ honours student Chelsea Waters spent a season protecting the tiny turtles, later returning to the island to study the effects of climate change on solitary coral polyps.