St Helena Island is a beautiful national park with an important place in Queensland’s history. As one of the hardest maximum security prison’s in Australia, the island earned itself the nickname Queensland’s Inferno in the nineteenth century. While the guards ruled with an iron fist, the shark infested waters surrounding the island detered most escape attempts.
Much of the prison is still intact today and makes for a great day trip. The southern corner of the island is open to the public without a guide and holds some ruins, including the lime kilm, as well as several walking tracks and a lovely picnic area. Also worth seeing is the plant life; here, the landscaped gardens of the 19th century compete with the islands natural vegetation. (
Map of St Helena, including restricted and unrestricted areas.)
The
St Helena Theatre Troupe offer themed tours that are exciting and educational. Their day tours, recommeded for children, combine acting and storytelling to re-create the island’s history, from indignious beginnings to it’s prison days. Day tours are available on Saturdays between 10am and 3pm, and cost $69 for adults and $39 for children.
If you’re more interested in St Helena’s darker side, try the night ghost tour. Participants are treated like prisoners and marched to dinner, then to tour the prison and cemetery. The night tours take place every Saturday night and cost $90 for adults and $50 for children (this includes a buffet dinner.)
St Helena can be accessed by charter boat from Manly or New Farm (try
ABSea Cruises or
Brisbane Cruises). Privates boats can be moored during high tide.
For more information on the history of St Helena, try the interesting website
The St Helena Story.
