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Calder Island
HISTORY
Calder Island
Calder Island was designated as 'L2' by Lieutenant
Matthew Flinders, RN, in HMS Investigator in 1802. Flinders
honoured it with his presence when on 16
October 1802 he and Lieutenant John Murray from the consort HMS Lady Nelson landed on the island to
take bearings and
probably to stretch their legs. They
had just suffered a frustrating week trying to find a way through the Barrier
Reef to the east of Scawfell
Island but had to retreat defeated. This was as close as Flinders came to
the Whitsunday islands. Next day
he resumed his attack on the reef finally quitting it on 20 October 1802 via
Flinders Passage east of Townsville
(Flinders, Matthew A Voyage to Terra Australis London 1814; Flinders'
charts; Log Lady Nelson).
The island was re-named in 1879 by Staff Commander E. P. Bedwell, RN, in SS Llewellyn and is one of the many names from the then English county of Cumberland he rought to the Whitsundays following James Cook's 1770 designation of the group as 'The Cumberland Isles'. The Calder River flows from the Lake District through the city of Carlisle and into Solway Firth.
The island was declared a national park in 1975.
The Information on the Whitsunday Islands is reproduced by kind permission of Mr. Ray Blackwood from his book: " The Whitsunday Islands An Historical Dictionary ".
Please visit his site here. It is well worth the time!