Brampton Island
Particularly beautiful island south of the Whitsundays

Brampton Island is located 32 km north-east of Mackay and is considered by some to be the southernmost island in the Whitsunday Island group. This is not entirely fair as the services operating in the Whitsundays (ie. ferry services from Hamilton Island and from the mainland port at Shute Harbour) do not include Brampton in their itinerary. It is more accurately part of the 70 islands which constitute the Cumberland Group.

Until recently the only regular nautical access to the island was from Mackay. This has now stopped and the only commercial access is via Whitaker Airlines from Mackay Airport.

Like most of the islands off the Queensland coast, Brampton was first sighted by Captain James Cook who passed through the area in early June, 1770. At the time there was no permanent Aboriginal population on the island although groups from the mainland did regularly visit the island in search of food.

It was not until 1879 that the island (until that time simply known as 'M' on charts of the area) was named. Staff Commander Bedwell of the Royal Navy, recognising the Cumberland Group of islands, named each island in the group after towns in the Cumberland Lake District.

A few years later the Queensland Agricultural Department, in a program to help shipwrecked sailors, planted coconut palms on a large number of islands including Brampton. The plan was that the coconuts would provide food for the sailors. Some of the coconut palms can still be seen on the beach at the island's resort.

In 1916 Joseph Busuttin, his wife Sarah and five children became the island's first European settlers. The family remained on the island establishing the first resort. Joseph Busuttin's sons did not leave the island until 1959 when they sold the resort.

Things to see:   

 

Looking over Dinghy Bay West

Vital Information About the Island
1. The Island Itself
Location
32 km north-east of Mackay

Description of the island
A large 770 ha island with seven idyllic beaches. Most of the island is part of the Brampton Island National Park. The island is characterised by great variation of vegetation with dramatic stands of hoop pine, sections of tropical rainforest, and coastal mangroves. The beaches are isolated and delightful.

How do visitors access it?
Currently only access is a ten minute flight from Mackay Airport for people staying on the island.

Activities on the island
The bushwalking is outstanding. There are also the usual range of water and island activities.

Bushwalks
There is no better walking track on the Great Barrier Reef islands than the exquisite, and superbly maintained, 7-km National Parks track which circumnavigates most of Brampton Island. It is so well constructed, and its gradients are so subtle, that although one minute you are gazing across expanses of coastline and the next minute you are on some sandy beach, even the chronically unfit can complete it in a couple of hours. Of course it is much better to mooch and take half a day.

 

Blackboys cover the ground on the walk around the island

It is a track full of surprises. Forests of hoop pine give way to gloriously isolated beaches; hundreds of blackboys (or Xanhorrhoea if you want to be politically correct) erupt from their grass skirt bases; aquamarine waters, driven by the island's 3 metre tidal range, rush along the island's eastern coastal channel; and, all the time, the path twists and turns offering surprising vistas saturated with tropical greens and blues.

There are also additional walks to the Cape Hillsborough Lookout and to both Oak Bay and Dinghy Bay West. The resort has good

2. Resorts on the Island
History
The first resort on the island was established in 1933 when two of the sons of the island's original settler, Joseph Busuttin, welcomed passengers from P&O's ship, the SS Canberra, in December. The three week holiday - ship to and from Sydney and 11 days on Brampton Island - cost £27/3/-. The Busuttins retired in 1959 and since then the resort has gone through a number of owners. In 1965 an airstrip was built on the island. The saltwater swimming pool was completed in 1972 and in 1985 TAA purchased the island and upgraded the resort. In late 1997 the resort was purchased by P&O Resorts who promptly spent $3 million on refurbishment and decided that the traditional daytripper market from Mackay should be halted.

How big is it?
108 rooms holding a capacity of approximately 220 people.

Who does it appeal to?
The resort is now targeted at the couples market. Honeymooners, young, middle-aged and elderly couples.

Free activities
An adventure snorkel trail, archery, basketball, volleyball, catamarans, golf (6 hole chip and putt), tennis, windsurfing.

Other activities
Coral viewing, fishing trips, Great Barrier Reef Cruises, Melaleuca tour on Carlisle Island, scuba diving, water skiing.

Eating at the resort
Reasonably priced Saltwater Rocks Cafe (breakfast and lunch) and Carlisle Restaurant (dinner).