Changes in island biota - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 217

Some documentary evidence indicates that, as a result of those impacts, bird
numbers declined at several islands. In 1970, the Secretary of the QNPWS
stated: 'Comparison of the present situation with early records indicates that the
tourist resort on Heron Island has resulted in that island being largely deserted
by some species of ground-nesting terns'. In 1978, at Michaelmas Cay - one of
the most significant sea-bird rookeries in the Great Barrier Reef - the Secretary
of the NQNC stated: 'Reports from local and visiting ornithologists reveal that
the number of birds present has decreased markedly compared with film and
reports taken some few years ago'. Some of the disturbances of seabird colonies
at Michaelmas Cay were attributed to the operations of a seaplane taxiing to the
beach and conducting low-flying over the ca y. 60 Nevertheless, the evidence given
above suggests that large numbers of birds had been destroyed, at several islands,
before the formation of the GBRMP in 1975.
Other changes in island fauna occurred with the introduction of exotic animal
species. In common with the introduction of goats, described above, the transfer
of a range of other exotic species of fauna to islands occurred throughout most of
the period of European settlement. The animal species introduced were diverse;
an indication of that diversity was given by Heatwole (1984, pp28, 31), who
reported the presence of feral cats, wallabies, pea fowl, guinea fowl, dogs and an
emu on the cays of the Capricornia Section. In some cases, the transformation
of island landscapes by introduced animals was prolonged; the QNPWS (1996)
reported that sheep grazing commenced in the mid-1800s at the Keppel Islands
and continued until the early 1960s, by which time the landscape of the island
had been severely degraded. Although some of the introductions of exotic
animals were deliberate, others occurred accidentally as animals were carried to
islands in ship or boat cargoes; one example of the latter impact occurred at
North West Island, where the fowls found on the island in 1928 were reported to
have descended from several birds that escaped from a shipwreck (Napier, 1928,
p117).
Evidence of the deliberate stocking of islands for pastoralism dates to 1933,
when J. V. Busuttin, the Lessee of St Bees Island, reported that his father placed
stock on the Repulse Islands, although the animals were later stolen; Busuttin
also reported that his brothers had stocked Penrith Island. By 1938, cows, bulls,
a horse and poultry had been introduced at Grassy Island by Boyd Lee; horses,
sheep and pigs were found at Haslewood Island, in the Whitsunday Group; Mr
H. G. Lamond, the Lessee of several Molle Islands, had introduced grazing herds
at Molle, Mid Molle, Denman and Planton Islands; and Mr C. F. Pike, the Lessee
of Partridge Island, had applied to graze sheep and milking cows on North Molle
Island (Caldwell, 1938, p136) . 61 In 1948, a National Parks Ranger reported that
at Long Island Mr Rasmussen had introduced some cattle and a horse, which
were damaging the track on the island. By 1950, eight head of cattle were being
grazed on Long Island and over 30 head of stock were present at Lindeman Island,
and by 1956 cows had been introduced at North Molle Island and 22 pigs were
kept on South Molle Island. By 1960, the Secretary of the QNPWS stated that