The Flinders Group

'Penned' 23 September 2015

We teamed up with our friends on Siri of the Sea to head further north in convoy. As well as the imagined safety sailing in convoy provides, they’re good company and have proven to be excellent tour guides.

We left Lizard Island in some haste with good winds behind us and anchored at Ingram Island, where we surprised a young crocodile of around two metres on our sunset stroll around the island. (The speed with which it launched itself into the water made us ponder how the larger ones allegedly can also move with great rapidity when the need arises ...) With the wind expected to increase a little too much for comfortable sailing in a few more days we decided to continue to the Flinders Group to hide from the 25–30 knot winds forecast.

Our friends on Siri have been to the Flinders Group of islands many times before and consider it a second home. There is much evidence of Aboriginal occupation: the islands are rich with middens and cave paintings. On calmer days we were able to visit to Stanley Island via dinghy, which has a large cave with numerous paintings and a boardwalk for tourists. (Apparently the cruise liner Coral Princess visits regularly with its cargo of guests). Other less frequented caves scattered about the islands also contain paintings, but none so numerous as this ‘boardwalked’ site. The western end of Stanley Island also has a ‘tropical’ beach, and with sentry rocks high enough for good ‘croc spotting’ it was possible to have brief and refreshing dips without too much anxiety about morphing into dinosaur tucker. Crocs prefer mangroves and murky water after all, or logically, anywhere that will provide food …

Exploration of other sites and caves at the Flinders Group requires ‘bushbashing’. There are three tiers of rock ‘outcrops’ and as the islands are quite large and remote it is possible to trek through and find isolated caves and crevices (sometimes with art, and even skulls) and imagine no-one besides the original inhabitants knew about it.

In the Flinders islands there are some extraordinary rock formations resulting in caves (obviously), fissures and other geological delights. A reputed sacred site near where we anchored contains ‘wells’ and other hints at its prior significance. Sadly, we can only speculate on what might have occurred there, but the rugged beauty of this place provides its own allure. Like many of nature’s extraordinary places, it’s not difficult to believe this place is considered sacred by the oldest living culture.

On Flinders Island there is a burial cave, fenced off with mesh, which we’re told now contains fewer skeletons than previously. Thankfully there is no boardwalk to this cave, the content of which even the imposing mesh has not fully protected.

This group of islands was significant not only for its indigenous caretakers, but in the late nineteenth century numerous fishing boats used it as a base, and there was even a shop here. Much of this activity is now centred elsewhere, the shop is long gone and the last of the original inhabitants was moved on nearly a century ago. Allegedly a couple of shipwrecks adorn the shores. We still have more exploring to do, and hopefully tomorrow early we’ll be able to dinghy around to the ‘front’ or eastern side of the island, where there are more burial caves, fresh water and numerous delights besides, we’re reliably informed …

Another kind of rock art