UnderwaterCoral Reefs at the Phoenix Islands

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/phoenix-islands/skerry-photography?source=email_photo

The heavy iron anchor and chain tumbled noisily into the water. We lowered two red skiffs from our research vessel, loaded our diving gear, and sped off toward the lagoon. After a five-day sail from Fiji to Kanton island, we were anxious to see if reefs here had survived a rare ocean disaster—a lethal spike in the temperature of local seawater. During the El Niño of 2002-03, a body of water more than 1°C (1.8°F) warmer than usual had stalled for six months around the Phoenix Islands, a tiny archipelago in the central Pacific. We'd heard that the hot spot had severely bleached the region's corals. As I descended toward the lagoon floor, I was hoping things weren't as bad as we'd been told.

Settling down beside the reef, I saw dead coral everywhere. What had been flourishing, overlapping, overflowing brown and auburn plates of corals were now ghostly, broken reminders of their former beauty. When I'd first visited the Phoenix Islands a decade ago, these reefs had supported numerous species of hard corals, as well as giant clams, sea anemones, nudibranchs, and great populations of fish, from blacktip reef sharks to parrotfish to bohar snappers. Because the islands have remained undisturbed for so long, they'd largely avoided overfishing, pollution, and other harmful impacts of modern civilization. But they hadn't been able to avoid climate change, which most scientists believe amplifies El Niños.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/phoenix-islands/stone-text http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/phoenix-islands/stone-text

Palm Island

Palm Island 2, originally uploaded by Ladymaggic.

We stayed at Palm Island mooring amidst the islands where it was protected from the open winds.
It was very beautiful there. Shore was rich with trees and greenery and white cockatoos called from the trees.
The settlement was ahead.
Most of Palm Island is simply open land and full of bush and birds... a real Sanctuary.
The next day we went by Dinghy to Famtome Island which was the Leprosy Hospital base.
The shore was laden with coral and smooth colored stones.
As we walked into the Island there were piles of conch shells that had been eaten by a campfire.
The island is rich with trees, flowers and birds.
It is a very beautiful island currently uninhabited.

Sunken Yacht had been dragged by the current over 11 miles

Sunken Yacht had been dragged by the current over 11 miles, originally uploaded by Ladymaggic.

We found it on Tuesday.
Coastguard said it had sunk at 1am on Friday and was dragged away by the currents.
It had traveled 11 miles to where we located it at Wheelers Reef

Palm Island Hospital site

Palm Island Hospital site, originally uploaded by Ladymaggic.

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/info/ind/community/missions/mainland/f-g


Fantome Island

Fantome Island was gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve in 1925. Aboriginal patients suffering from venereal disease were first taken to the island in 1928. Fantome Island became part of the Palm Island reserve in 1938. The island was proclaimed a lazaret in 1939 and opened in January 1940. All Aboriginal patients from the lazaret on Peel Island in Moreton Bay were transferred to Fantome Island in 1940.

In 1941 it was decided that as a treatment facility for venereal diseases and a lazaret existed on Fantome Island, the areas allocated to the two institutions should be clearly defined. This resulted in half the Island being re-gazetted as a reserve for Health Purposes (for the reception and medical treatment of lepers) and the other half re-gazetted as a reserve for the medical treatment of Aboriginals suffering from venereal disease.

Nearby Orpheus Island was also considered as a place to establish a camp for Aboriginal people suspected to have leprosy. In 1939 the island was visited by missionaries from Mona Mona mission who were seeking to remove suspected lepers from Mona Mona. Orpheus Island, however, was found to be an unsatisfactory location and no suspect camp was ever established.

In 1945 the Lock Hospital was closed down and the administration of the lazaret was taken over by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. According to the 1944/45 Annual Report of the Director-General of Health and Medical Services the use of penicillin at Palm Island had made it possible to close the isolation settlement at Fantome Island. The lazaret on Fantome Island did not close until around 1973 when the remaining six patients were removed to Palm Island. In 1975 the island was de-gazetted as a reserve for the treatment of leprosy patients.http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/Search/AgencyDetails.aspx?AgencyId=4501

ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTION:
Under the "Health Act of 1937", the Governor-in-Council, by proclamation, could appoint any place to be a lazaret for the reception and treatment of lepers.

On 11 May 1939, Fantome Island in the Palm Island Group, North Queensland, was proclaimed a lazaret for the treatment of aborigines with leprosy. In Jul 1939 there were 15 patients at Fantome Island and, in Jan 1940, a further 49 patients were transferred from Peel Island Lazaret.

With improvements in treatment the number of patients gradually decreased, particularly in the 1950s, and, in 1973, patients with Hansen's Disease, as leprosy was now called, were transferred to Palm Island Hospital.

Beach at Palm Island

Beach at Palm Island, originally uploaded by Ladymaggic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Island,_Queensland

Palm Island, also known as Great Palm Island, or by the Aboriginal name Bwgcolman,[3] is a tropical island with a resident community of about 4,000 people. The settlement is named variously Palm Island, the Mission, Palm Island Settlement or Palm Community.[4] The island is situated 65 kilometres north-west of Townsville, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia 800 kilometres north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It is the main island of the Greater Palm group, and consists of small bays, sandy beaches and steep forested mountains rising to a peak of 548 metres.[5] Neighbouring islands outside the Palm group include Rattlesnake Island and Magnetic Island.
Palm Island Jetty

Palm Island is often termed a classic "tropical paradise" given its natural endowments, but it has had a troubled history since the European settlement of Australia.[6] For much of the twentieth century it was used by the Queensland Government as a settlement for Aboriginals considered guilty of such infractions as being "disruptive", being pregnant to a white man or being born with "mixed blood".[7]