Maʼalpiku Island National Park

Maʼalpiku Island National Park Queensland
IUCN category II (national park)
Restoration Island, Cape York
Maʼalpiku Island National Park
Nearest town or city	Lockhart River
Coordinates	12°37′13″S 143°26′49″E / 12.62028°S 143.44694°E / -12.62028; 143.44694
Established	1989
Area	26 ha (64 acres)
Managing authorities	Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	Maʼalpiku Island National Park
See also	Protected areas of Queensland

Maʼalpiku Island National Park, or Restoration Island, is a national park at Iron Range in the Shire of Cook in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1928 km (1198 miles) northwest of Brisbane and a few hundred metres (yards) from Cape Weymouth and the Kutini-Payamu National Park. The park includes part of Restoration Island and nearby Restoration Rock.

Environment[edit]

The continental island rises to 116 m (380'). The landscape features granite boulders, closed scrub, open paperbark scrub and wind-sheared heath.^[1]

History[edit]

On 29 May 1789, after the mutiny on the Bounty, Captain Bligh and the men who remained loyal to him arrived on the island in the ship's boat. This was the first Australian island they came to, and he named it Restoration Island because the food they found (oysters and native fruits) greatly restored their spirits^[1]^[2] and because that date was Oak Apple Day, the anniversary of the restoration of King Charles II (in 1660).^[3]

Bligh saw evidence of the local aborigines using the island (rough huts and places fires had been made). He also saw kangaroo tracks and wondered if the aborigines brought them from the mainland to breed, since they would be easier to catch later in the confined space of an island. (When leaving the following day he saw aborigines on an opposite shore, but did not communicate with them.)

David Glasheen[edit]

Today Restoration Island is not just a National Park: one third of the island is leased to David Glasheen, a former mining tycoon, who, after losing his fortune during the 1987 stock market crash, decided to live a solitary existence on the island.^[4]

Glasheen lives in a renovated World War II outpost on Ma'alpiku Island with solar powered internet access and a mobile phone. He also has a small boat for reaching the mainland whenever necessary and several times a year he makes a trip to the mainland for groceries. He gathers bananas and coconuts from the island, catches crabs, fish, and oysters and has a fruit and vegetable garden.^[5]

In July 2019 David Glasheen and Neil Bramwell released The Millionaire Castaway,^[6] published by Affirm Press, detailing David Glasheen's experiences of being a castaway on Restoration Island for the past 22 years.

Traditional owners[edit]

The island contains places of cultural significance to the traditional owners. In 2009, formal native title was granted over the island to the Kuuku Ya’u people.^[1] The park is now jointly managed between the Northern Kuuku Ya’u Kanthanampu Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC Land Trust and the Government of Queensland.

Access[edit]

Access to the national park is provided by private boat only.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Nature, culture and history". Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
^ Randall, Brian (6 November 2015). "Queensland Places - Restoration". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
^
- A Voyage to the South Sea by William Bligh at Project Gutenberg
^ Russell, Kent (5 September 2013). "Dave Glasheen: The Lost Boy of Restoration Island". The New Republic. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
^ Crockett, Zachary (17 December 2022). "The millionaire who lost it all and became a castaway". The Hustle.
^ Em (4 June 2019). "The Millionaire Castaway". Affirm Press. Retrieved 24 July 2019.

External links[edit]

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Townships	Atherton Aurukun Babinda Badu Island Bamaga Burketown Cardwell Chillagoe Coen Cooktown Croydon Dimbulah Doomadgee Georgetown Gordonvale Herberton Hope Vale Innisfail Karumba Kowanyama Kuranda Laura Lockhart River Malanda Mapoon Mareeba Millaa Millaa Mission Beach Mornington Island Mossman Napranum Normanton Pormpuraaw Port Douglas Thursday Island Tully Weipa Wujal Wujal Yungaburra
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National Parks	Alwal Annan River Apudthama Barnard Island Group Barron Gorge Blackbraes Bulleringa Cape Melville Chillagoe-Mungana Claremont Isles Clump Mountain Crater Lakes Daintree Danbulla Davies Creek Djiru Ella Bay Endeavour River Eubenangee Swamp Family Islands Fitzroy Island Flinders Group Frankland Group Forty Mile Scrub Great Basalt Wall Green Island Grey Peaks Girramay Girringun Goold Island Hann Tableland Hasties Swamp Hinchinbrook Island Hope Islands Howick Group Hull River Japoon Kalkajaka Kirrama Kuranda Kurrimine Beach Kutini-Payamu Lama Lama Lizard Island Ma’alpiku Island Macalister Range Malaan Maria Creek Marpa Michaelmas and Upolu Cays Millstream Falls Mitchell-Alice Rivers Mitirinchi Island Moresby Range Mount Cook Mount Hypipamee Mount Lewis Mount Spurgeon Mount Webb Mount Windsor Mowbray Ngalba Bulal Nymph Island Oyala Thumotang Palmerston Rocks Piper Islands Possession Island Precipice Raine Island Rinyirru Rocky Islets Russell River Sandbanks Saunders Islands Sir Charles Hardy Group Staaten River Starcke Three Islands Topaz Road Tully Gorge Turtle Group Two Islands Undara Volcanic Wooroonooran Wuthara Island Yamarrinh Wachangan Islands Yungaburra
Places of Interest	Atherton Tableland Barron Falls Cape Tribulation Daintree Rainforest Hinchinbrook Island Mount Bartle Frere Princess Charlotte Bay Torres Strait Islands

v t e National parks of Queensland
Central	Baga Blackdown Tableland Bulburin Byfield Capricorn Coast Capricornia Cays Carnarvon Castle Tower Curtis Island Deepwater Epping Forest Eurimbula Expedition Goodedulla Humboldt Isla Gorge Junee Keppel Bay Islands Kroombit Tops Littabella Mazeppa Minerva Hills Mount Archer Mount Colosseum Mount Etna Caves Mount O'Connell Mount Walsh Nuga Nuga Palmgrove Peak Range Precipice Rundle Range Snake Range Taunton Warro West Hill Wild Cattle Island
Darling Downs	Bendidee Bunya Mountains Crows Nest Erringibba Girraween Main Range Mount Binga Pidna Southwood Sundown The Palms Wondul Range
Far North	Alwal Annan River Apudthama Barnard Island Group Barron Gorge Basilisk Range Blackbraes Bulleringa Cape Melville Chillagoe-Mungana Claremont Isles Clump Mountain Crater Lakes Daintree Danbulla Davies Creek Dinden Djiru Ella Bay Endeavour River Eubenangee Swamp Family Islands Fitzroy Island Flinders Group Frankland Group Forty Mile Scrub Great Basalt Wall Green Island Grey Peaks Girramay Girringun Goold Island Hann Tableland Hasties Swamp Herberton Range Hinchinbrook Island Hope Islands Howick Group Hull River Japoon Kalkajaka Kirrama Kuranda Kurrimine Beach Kutini-Payamu Lama Lama Little Mulgrave Lizard Island Ma’alpiku Island Macalister Range Malaan Maria Creek Marpa Michaelmas and Upolu Cays Millstream Falls Mitchell-Alice Rivers Mitirinchi Island Moresby Range Mount Cook Mount Hypipamee Mount Lewis Mount Spurgeon Mount Webb Mount Windsor Mowbray Ngalba Bulal Nymph Island Oyala Thumotang Palmerston Rocks Piper Islands Possession Island Raine Island Rinyirru Rocky Islets Russell River Sandbanks Saunders Islands Sir Charles Hardy Group Staaten River Starcke Three Islands Topaz Road Tully Gorge Turtle Group Two Islands Undara Volcanic Wooroonooran Wuthara Island Yamarrinh Wachangan Islands Yungaburra
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South West	Alton Chesterton Range Culgoa Floodplain Currawinya Diamantina Hell Hole Gorge Idalia Lake Bindegolly Mariala Narkoola Thrushton Tregole
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Wide Bay-Burnett	Auburn River Beeron Beninbi Burrum Coast Cania Gorge Coalstoun Lakes Fairlies Knob Goodnight Scrub Goomboorian Great Sandy Grongah Mount Bauple Pipeclay Poona Tarong Woocoo Woondum Woowoonga
Brisbane and Surrounds	Bellthorpe Bribie Island Burleigh Head Conondale D'Aguilar Deer Reserve Dularcha Esk Eudlo Creek Ferntree Creek Fort Lytton Freshwater Gatton Glass House Mountains Kondalilla Lamington Lockyer Mapleton Falls Mooloolah River Moogerah Peaks Gheebulum Kunungai Mount Barney Mount Chinghee Mount Coolum Mount Pinbarren Naree Budjong Djara Nicoll Scrub Noosa Nerang Ravensbourne Sarabah Southern Moreton Bay Islands St Helena Island Springbrook Tamborine Teerk Roo Ra Tewantin Triunia Tuchekoi Venman Bushland West Cooroy Wickham
Former national parks	Blue Lake
Protected areas of Queensland