14. THE CORAL SEA (from Wikipedia)

Sand cay that may eventually become an island (in, at a wild guess, one hundred thousand years time)

History

The Coral Sea Islands were first charted in 1803; in the 1870 and 1880s the islands were mined for guano but the absence of a permanent supply of fresh water prevented long-term habitation.^[1] The territory was created in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act (before, the area was considered part of Queensland) and extended in 1997 to include Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs nearly 800 km further South, already in the Tasman Sea.
The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island, New South Wales (about 150 km) than to the southernmost island of the rest of the territory, Cato Island. The islands, cays and reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not part of the territory, belonging to Queensland instead. The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the boundary between Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands Territory.
The territory is a possession of Australia, administered from Canberra by the Attorney-General's Department^[2] (before 29 November 2007^[3] administration was carried out by the Department of Transport and Regional Services). Defence is the responsibility of Australia, and the territory is visited regularly by the Royal Australian Navy.
Australia maintains automatic weather stations on many of the isles and reefs, and claims a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive fishing zone. There is no economic activity (except for a significant but as yet unquantified charter fishing and diving industry), and only a staff of three or four people to run the meteorological station on Willis Island (South Islet), established in 1921.^{[citation needed]} In November 2011 the Australian government announced that a 989,842 square kilometres (382,180 sq mi) protected area was planned in the Coral Sea.^[4]

Geography

There are about 30 separate reefs and atolls, twelve being wholly submerged or drying only during low tide, and 18 others with a total of about 51 islets and cays (18 alone on the atoll Lihou Reef), some of which are vegetated. The atolls exhibit a wide range of size, from a few kilometres in diameter to perhaps the second largest atoll in the world by total area (including lagoon): Lihou Reef, with a lagoon size of 100 by 30 km and an area of 2,500 km², which compares to a combined land area of the 18 individual islets of only 0.91 km². The islands are all very low. The territory's FIPS 10-4 code is CR, whereas ISO 3166 includes it in Australia (AU).
The Willis Islets are important nesting areas for birds and turtles, but their natural resources are negligible. They comprise less than three square kilometres of land. There is no port or harbour, only offshore anchorage.
Most of the atolls fall into two groups, while Mellish Reef to the east, and Middleton Reef and Elizabeth Reef to the south are grouped separately:

Northwestern Group

1. Osprey Reef (submerged atoll roughly oval in shape, measuring 25 by 12 km, covering around 195 km², with lagoon up to 30 m deep)
2. Shark Reef (small elongated submerged reef 15 km South of Osprey Reef, with a least depth of 7.8 m)
3. Bougainville Reef (small submerged atoll, 2.5 by 4 km, area 8 km² with lagoon, dries at half tide)
4. East Holmes Reef (submerged atoll, about 14 by 10 km, area 125 km² with lagoon)
5. West Holmes Reef (submerged atoll 6 km East of East Holmes Reef, about 18 by 7 km, area 125 km² with lagoon that is open on the West side, two small cays)
6. Flora Reef (small submerged atoll, 5 by 4 km, about 12 km²)
7. Diane Bank (sunken atoll, depths of less than 10 m over an area of 65 by 25 km, or 1300 km², along the northern edge 3 m deep, with Sand Cay in the Northwest, 3 m high)
8. North Moore Reef (small submerged atoll, 4 by 3 km, area 8 km² including lagoon that is open on the Northwest side)
9. South Moore Reef (small submerged reef 5 km South of North Moore Reef)
10. Willis Islets (sunken atoll, bank 45 by 19 km, bank area more than 500 km², 3 islets on the Northwestern side: North Cay, Mid Islet almost 8 m high, South Islet or Willis Island 10 m high)
11. Magdelaine Cays & Coringa Islets (one large, partially sunken atoll structure, almost 90 by 30 km, bank area about 1500 km², 2 islets of the Magdelaine Cays in the North: North West Islet (area approximately 0.2 km²) and South East Cay (area 0.37 km²); 2 islets of the Coringa Islets 50 to 60 km further Southwest: Southwest Islet or Coringa Islet (area 0.173 km²), and Chilcott Islet (area 0.163 km²))
12. Herald Cays, Northeast Cay (encircled by a reef of 3 by 3 km, total area 6 km², land area 0.34 km²)
13. Herald Cays, Southwest Cay (4 km Southwest of Northeast Cay, encircled by a reef of 2 by 2 km, total area 3 km², land area 0.188 km²)
14. Lihou Reef and Cays (largest atoll in the coral sea, with a size of 2500 km², land area 0.91 km²)
15. Diamond Islets & Tregosse Reefs (large, partially sunken atoll, 100 by 52 km, area of the bank over 3000 km², with 4 islets and 2 small submerged reefs in the Northeast and Southeast: West Diamond Islet, Central Diamond Islet, East Diamond Islet on the Northeastern rim of the former atoll, and South Diamond Islet, East Tregosse Reef and West Tregosse Reef on the Southern rim)
16. North Flinders Reef (large atoll, 34 by 23 km, area 600 km², with 2 islets, Flinders Cay being the larger one with a length of 200 m and a height of 3 m)
17. South Flinders Reef (atoll, 15 by 5 km, 60 km²)
18. Herald's Surprise (small submerged reef North of Flinders Reefs, 3 by 2 km)
19. Dart Reef (small submerged reef Northwest of Flinders Reefs, 3 by 3 km, area 6 km² including small lagoon that is open to the North)
20. Malay Reef (small submerged reef, not clearly defined, no breakers, difficult to see)
21. Abington Reef (submerged reef, nearly awash, 4 by 2.5 km, area 7 km²)
22. Marion Reef (large circular atoll formation that is composed of three main units located on the Eastern side: Marion, Long and Wansfell; and a number of smaller reefs on the west. The formation sits atop a submarine feature known as the Marion Plateau which is separated from the larger Coral Sea Plateau to the north by the Townsville Trough. Three small sand cays are located on the eastern side of Marion Reef: Paget Cay, on Long Reef, Carola Cay, south of Long Reef, and Brodie Cay, on Wansfell Reef.

The atolls of the Northwestern Group, except Osprey Reef and Shark Reef in the North, and Marion Reef in the South, are located on the Coral Sea Plateau (Queensland Plateau), a contiguous area of depths less than 1000 m.

• Flinders Reefs (North and South), Herald's Surprise and Dart Reef form a cluster of reefs of 66 by 26 km.

• Magdelaine Cays, Coringa Islets and Herald Cays are part of the 8856 km² Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve, created on 16 August 1982 and located around 400 km east of Cairns and 220 to 320 km from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The 6 islets of the nature reserve have areas from 0.16 to 0.37 km², for a total of 1.24 km².

• Lihou Reef was declared a Nature Reserve on 16 August 1982, with an area of 8440 km².

The Nature Reserves were created to protect wildlife in the respective areas of the territory; together they form the Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site.

Mellish Reef

1. Mellish Reef, being about 300 kilometres to the east of the Northwestern Group, thus the most distant from the Australian continent of all the reefs and atolls of the Coral Sea Islands Territory, is not considered to be part of any group. It has the outline of a boomerang-shaped platform around 10 km in length and 3 km across, area 25 km². The surrounding reefs, which enclose a narrow lagoon, are completely submerged at high tide. Near the centre of the lagoon is the only permanent land of the reef - Heralds-Beacon Islet. The island is a small cay measuring 600 m by 120 m, area 57,000 m², only rising a few metres above the high water mark.^[5]

Southeasterly Group

1. Frederick Reefs: The reefs form a semi-enclosed lagoon, known as Anchorage Sound, with an opening on the North side. The complex measures about 10 by 4 km, with an area of 30 km². On the southern side of the reef lies Observatory Cay, the only permanently dry land, although there are a few of others cays that can be awash at high tide.
2. Kenn Reefs, submerged atoll of about 15 by 8 km, area 40 km², islet Observatory Cay in the Southeast, 2 m high
3. Saumarez Reefs, southernmost reefs to be located on the Coral Sea Shelf; three main reefs and numerous smaller reefs that form a large crescent-shaped formation open to the northwest, about 27 by 14 km, area less than 300 km². There are two sand cays: North East Cay and South West Cay.
4. Wreck Reefs: atoll 25 by 5 km, area 75 km², open on the North. Islets found on the reefs include Bird Islet, West Islet and Porpoise Cay.
5. Cato Reef: Cato bank 21 by 13 km, area 200 km² of depths less than 17 m; Cato Reef encircles an area of 3.3 by 1.8 km, area 5 km² including lagoon; Cato Island, in the West of the lagoon, 650 by 300 m, area 1.5 km², 6 m high. Close to the Southeast corner of Cato bank is Hutchison Rock, with 1 m depth over

Extreme South

Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, together with reefs around Lord Howe Island (New South Wales) 150 km to the south, are regarded as the southernmost coral reefs in the world. Their location, where tropical and temperate ocean currents meet, contributes to an unusually diverse assemblage of marine species. These mostly submerged atolls which dry only during low tide were added to the territory only in 1989. They are located on the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea which joins the Coral Sea in the South. Already on 23 December 1987, they were protected as the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, which has an area of 1880 km².

1. Middleton Reef, atoll about 8.9 by 6.3 km, area 37 km² including lagoon, one islet: Elizabeth island (Elizabeth cay), no vegetation, 600 metres by 400 metres (area 0.2 km²), highest point close to the Northern end 1.5 metres. At low tides much of the reef flat is exposed.
2. Elizabeth Reef, atoll about 8.2 by 5.5 km, area 51 km² including lagoon, one islet: The Sound, 100 by 70 meters (area 5,000 m²), highest point 0.8 metres. At low tides much of the reef flat is exposed.

Overview of islets and cays

Complex	Type	Islets/cays
West Holmes Reef	atoll	2
Diane Bank	atoll (mostly sunken)	Diane Bank Cay
Willis Group	atoll (partially sunken)	South Islet (Willis Island), Mid Islet, North Cay
Magdelaine Cays and Coringa Islets	atoll (partially sunken)	Northwest Islet, Southeast Cay, Southwest, Chilcott Islets
Herald Cays (North)	reef	Northwest Cay
Herald Cays (South)	reef	Southeast Cay
Lihou Reef and Cays	atoll	18
Diamond Islands and Tregosse Reefs	atoll (partially sunken)	4
Flinders Reefs (North)	atoll	Flinders, Main, Victoria Cays
Marion Reef	atoll	Paget, Carola, Brodie Cays
Mellish Reef	atoll	Heralds-Beacon Islet
Frederick Reefs	atoll	Observatory Cay
Kenn Reef	atoll	Observatory Cay
Saumarez Reef	atoll	Northeast, Southwest Cays
Wreck Reef	atoll	Bird, West Islets, Porpoise Cay
Cato Reef	atoll	Cato Island
Middleton Reef	atoll	1
Elizabeth Reef	atoll	1
Total number of islands/cays		51

Man-made objects

Automatic, unmanned weather stations are located on following reefs or atolls:

• Bougainville Reef
• Cato Island
• Flinders Reef (Flinders Coral Cay)
• Frederick Reef
• Holmes Reef
• Lihou Reef (Turtle Islet)
• Marion Reef
• Moore Reef

Kerosene-powered Great Barrier Reef lighthouse at North Reef in 1968

•  OTHER LIGHTHOUSES AT:
• Bougainville Reef
• East Diamond Islet
• Frederick Reefs
• Lihou Reef
• Saumarez Reef

Gannet  on Ben Cropp's dinghy, Great Detached Reef area

Wally Muller admired the navigation skills of Matthew Finders and visited most reefs named by this British naval explorer.

13. GREAT DETACHED REEF

 Large fish is a blue-spot coral trout - normally wary of people, this one absolutely fearless.  An indication that few people have dived here with spearguns.  Corals on 'the weather side' of reefs are different in shape as compared with the sheltered 'lagoons' on the other side of reefs.  Surf and currents can be expected most days.  It's a fabulous location that tourists rarely get taken to see at any reef.

Great Detached Reef extends north to within vision of Raine Island further north.  A basic tower (a light house without a light) was erected on Raine Island to assist navigation for sailing vessels of the past.  Many were wrecked on Great Detached Reef.

Technically Great Detached is a part of the Great Barrier Reef, yet the outside edge is where The Coral Sea begins.  How far off the reef does jurisdiction by GBRMPA exist?

Lagoon side of the reef.

Fiji film shot, shallows, Great Detached Reef (2002)

At all the Great Barrier Reefs, the outside edges can be expected to have beautiful underwater visibility.  These are not locations for charter boats to anchor.  The water can be deep as the reefs generally shelve away rapidly.  (The continental shelf).

One of two iron anchors on the reef.

Fatima shipwreck site.  Ben Cropp exploring with camera's.

Ben Cropp films leopard shark GD Reef - a canal link to the weather side

Great Detached Reef - lagoon

Underwater wave on weather side of Great Detached Reef (1983)

Whaler shark digital, weather side Great Detached Reef 2003

Staghorn corals, digital test, canal link to weather side 2003

Unusual shell

Family of spinner dolphin are residents of the lagoon at Great Detached Reef

Tiger shark at Great Detached Reef, in deep water, 1983

1983 image by J H Harding

No.12 LIHOU REEF - under construction post

Spider shell (live)

Grey reef sharks circle the charter boat as soon as the anchor was dropped.

Dog tooth tuna partially eaten by small Grey reef shark, Lihou Reef 1983

Lihou Reef has a population of Silver tip whaler sharks - or at least a species with white tip on it's dorsal fin.

Later I'll post details of an extremely nasty encounter a pair of friends had.  Their report would be 100% accurate.

I did some filming here in 1983 on the first of my three visits to Lihou which was included in a commercially released home video titled "Reef Safari".  (Low grade quality on Super8 film at 20 fps).

 Near shark bite-'attack' on free divers in 1976 at Lihou Reef.  Interview tells how a surgeon fish was speared to get an eight-foot Silvertip aroused - which happened.

Both fish and spearhead were jammed in the coral.  Shark could not get at the struggling fish, turned it's attention on the diver No.1 on the surface and swam toward him with mouth open.

Diver was able to raise his small movie camera housing under the sharks' jaw and combined with the speed it was traveling, the entire shark flipped out of the water.

Shark then turned its attention on the 2nd diver with the speargun and then tried to bite him also.  Twice the speargun went down the sharks' throat with jaws snapping on the speargun barrel.

An identical shark caught the following day had teeth examined and were said to be identical with whaler sharks found on Solitary Island off Wooli.

Note: These were both very experienced free divers. (Ron Taylor and Vic Ley). The estimate of the shark being eight feet in length would be very conservative and an under-estimate.

This post will be updated from time to time.

No.11 MARION REEF

White tip reef shark via Nikonos 80mm lens at Marion Reef.

Marion became the favorite destination for shark photography during the late 1970s.  American cameraman were shown the locations to dive by Captain Wally Muller.  Two Hollywood-funded productions were "Shark;s Treasure" with veteran actor-producer Cornel Wilde, and later "The Deep" with cameraman Al Giddings and stunt divers Jack McKenney and Chuck Nicklin.+

Many underwater images and video have been recorded at Marion Reef.  Sea snakes were prolific here too.  The coral formations are different to other reefs but it takes an expert to spot this.

Water visibility can be spectacularly clear also.  I measured 250 foot visibility the dive the above shark picture was taken.  i.e. Coralita was 80 feet in length, 100 feet of anchor chain had been let out and I was 50 feet or more behind the boat and could see the anchor up ahead.  An hour previously the water had been a brown color.  Currents and clear water example.

(Post under construction)

Captain Wally Muller watching grey reef sharks circling his boat at Marion Reef.  His T-shirt is a production member shirt from The Deep which obtained their very dramatic and made-to-measure shark sequences at Marion Reef.
Further south and offshore from the The Swains Reefs is "Little Marion Reef" (which would have a different 'official' name today).

Requires an ID by an expert.

No.10 'THE BELGIAN EXPEDITION to the GBR' (1967)

De Moor - Algerine class minesweeper.  

Corinne and the crew at Yonge Reef off Lizard Island

Support vessel 'Careelah' near Gannet Cay, The Swain Reefs (Southern Great Barrier Reef)

Sir Maurice Yonge climbed Lizard Island to view a coral reef  (Yonge Reef) that carries his name. Earlier this day a telegram had arrived congratulating Maurice on his just appoint knighthood. Sir Maurice had led a British expedition to the Great Barrier Reef in 1927 that studied corals around Low Isles - near Port Douglas.  One of his students, the future Dr David Barnes was a member of the Belgian Expedition.
(In 2012 this entry is indebted to Dave Barnes for much clarification of information).

 Lizard Island in 1967 (pre airstrip and resort).

 Tradewind returning to Careelah from De Moor

Ron catching a bit of winter sun between dives.

Belgian National Day was celebrated.

Filming with lights in 33 meters of depth, cameraman Pierre Dubuisson (or his assistant setting up).

Pierre Dubuisson was chief 35mm cameraman in charge of the expedition.

                           Ron Taylor was hired as second cameraman both shooting with 35mm film.

 One of the crew was Henri Moeyaert who sent these pictures of everyone when they arrived home.  The ship’s doctor met and married an Australian girl.
Henri seeks a picture of the wedding which was aboard the ship.
David Barnes PhD, now of Townsville, Queensland was part of the expedition.  Dave commented to Henri:
"I am sorry that I cannot help you with photos taken on the day that Dr Pullinckx was married.  I remember that day very well.  Also, I visited Gus and his Australian wife in Ostend – and they visited me in the UK.
I think your model of the De Moor is fabulous.  I note that you even left the gun out of the forward turret – as it was for the expedition to the GBR (the forward turret was used for storage).  I have many times looked to see if there is a commercial model of a Flower class corvette but have never found one".

Note: The Belgian Expedition  (or Belgium Expedition to the Great Barrier Reef) was primarily to make scientific marine biology films in 35mm underwater.  It was a huge and very expensive operation on behalf of a university.  Ron Taylor was one of two cinematographers.
Charter boat owner and skipper, Wally Muller assisted with navigation, especially around The Swain Reefs – his home territory.
The expedition visited all the dive locations we know so well today between Lady Elliott Island in the south north to Lizard Island.

No divers had been privileged to see so much of the Great Barrier Reef during one expedition.  It was still a large and unknown frontier especially underwater in 1967.

Author Bernard Gorsky with a Hassleblad

 

Valerie. aboard De Moor.
 

German beer (Becks) was a favorite, duty free too. 27 000 bottles were brought from Belgium, another 35 000 were collected at Brisbane. Somewhere at various locations on the GBR are piles of bottles (aka green coral) left in deep water by the crew.

120 sailors aboard and a pretty girl.

Corinne spent much of her time aboard Wally Muller’s charter boat Careelah with Valerie and Ron Taylor and guest Kay Overell.   I was a deckhand for Wally.  What a fabulous experience and opportunity for us.

Wally Muller assisted the Belgian Expedition in many ways, especially by leading them to unique study locations such as Gannet Cay in The Swain Reefs.

(A location not then featured on marine charts and presenting very hazardous navigation problems for a large vessel).

Number two in command was The Silver Fox (Jules) – showing his ceremonial sword on the Belgian National Day.

This was the first and probably still is the largest marine expedition to the Great Barrier Reef, yet it remains largely unreported today.  (Corrections 23 July 2012 below).

The leader of the Expedition was not Pierre Dubuisson.  It was Prof Albert Distèche.  Albert Distèche is 3rd to the left of Commander Charles Robyns, the skipper of the DeMoor, in the photo in your compilation.  Pierre was the son the Rector of the University of Liège, Marcel Dubuisson.  Word around the DeMoor was that the whole Expedition was set up by Marcel Dubuisson to give his son a start in life as a photographer.

Albert Distèche was a world-renowned scientist who specialised in the measurement of the pH of seawater at depth (which takes some doing).

The 1967 Belgian Expedition was most certainly not the first expedition to the GBR.  The best-known, and probably the first, was the 1928-29 expedition which was based at Low Isles and led by Maurice Yonge.  He was on the Belgian Expedition with us and I was with him when he returned to Low Isles for the first time since 1929.

Maurice Yonge flew home from Cairns to be knighted.  That's also a great story because he almost did not make his date with the Queen because of an Australian Airline strike.  He got home just in time by flying through the US.  He's had a morning suite especially tailored for that occasion but had made the mistake of asking Tom Goreau (the American reef specialist on the Expedition) to take his measurements.  As always, Tom added bits to the measurements and the suite did not fit (Tom Goreau was my PhD supervisor and I would have advised against having him take such measurements).  Happily, Maurice's wife, Phyll, remembered that the great ecologist at Aberdeen, Andrew Arthur, had a morning suite and was about the same build.  So, Maurice Yonge became Sir Maurice at Holyrood Palace in a borrowed morning suite.  That was the first time such an occasion had been held outside Buckingham Palace.

I say probably the first expedition because there had been a number of earlier organised trips to the GBR but I'm not sure such trips could be properly characterized as expeditions.  The earliest systematic, scientific explorer of the GBR was William Saville-Kent who wrote The Great Barrier Reef in 1893.  He is also an interesting guy who may have been involved in the murder of his half brother, for which his sister, Constance, spent 20 years in jail.  That story is told in a book by Kate Summerscale (2008), The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Or the murder at Road Hill House, which was made into a TV show. (Dave Barnes 2016)

Dive gear locker aboard De Moor

Wikipedia   Belgian_Navy

Wally Muller spearing in The Swain Reefs.

Dr Robert Endean, Australia's foremost Crown of Thorns starfish expert. (Pictured in 1995)

 Otter Reef off Townsville had been devastated by CoT starfish in 1967

                                                           Large file size (Repeated picture)

                               Captain Wally Muller (1991)  picture by JHH courtesy GBRMPA

                               Gorgonian fan coral from Lizard Island area transplanted to Low Isles 

The only known Gorgonian coral (above in 1999) at Low Isles may be related to the 1967 transplant?