State Commits to Resuscitating Great Keppel Island

Hopes are high a $30-million Queensland Government plan can restore a Southern Great Barrier Reef island to its former glory.

The Queensland Government last month announced a masterplan for Woppa (Great Keppel Island) that will focus on community-driven development and sustainable growth to create a world-class destination.

The masterplan comes after plans by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart to acquire the island collapsed in 2022.

A popular destination in the 1980s, the island had fallen on hard times more recently.

The island’s resort closed in 2008. The Queensland Government took over the leases in 2023 after a number of commercial negotiations did not progress.

After Rinehart’s plan for a world-class beach club fell through, the state began community consultation ahead of a masterplan for the island, which is 15km off Yeppoon on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast.

Woppa is considered one of the best development opportunities within the Great Barrier Reef due to its location, natural environment and access to the coast.

The Government said the masterplan included opportunities for:

• Sustainable tourism development to attract domestic and international visitors, including new eco resorts and precincts and a village centre.

• Better access around the island with new boardwalks, walking trails and signs.

• An enhanced arrival gateway, with options to improve maritime access being investigated.

• Cultural, educational and nature-based experiences to encourage longer stays on the island.

Livingstone Shire Council is working with the state to deliver a $10.1-million wastewater treatment plant and amenities blocks, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, “subject to a viable business case”.

▲ Great Keppel Island is 15km off the Queensland coast at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.

“The Queensland Government is also funding technical studies on options to improve maritime access and working with key partners to progress plans for a gateway precinct for visitors and new and upgraded boardwalks and walkways,” the Government said.

“The concept masterplan identifies the infrastructure needed to drive growth over the long term.

While the Government has committed $30 million towards infrastructure, this concept masterplan provides a strategic framework to help stakeholders secure private or public sector funding in the future.

The Queensland Government received more than 160 pieces of feedback on the draft plan when it was released in July, 2023.

“At the heart of the plan is protecting the island’s history, cultural values and unique characteristics through sustainable and eco-friendly development, while ensuring the island maintains a strong connection to the history of the land and its Traditional Owners, the Woppaburra People,” the Government said.