What is the Great Barrier Reef’s largest island by area?

Hinchinbrook Island is the largest island associated with the Great Barrier Reef by area.

Hinchinbrook is a mountainous continental island off the coast of Queensland, separated from the mainland by the Hinchinbrook Channel. Its landscape includes rugged peaks, rainforest, wetlands, mangroves, beaches, and coastal waters, making it very different from a low coral cay.

The island is protected within Hinchinbrook Island National Park. It is known for terrestrial wildlife and wilderness as well as its position beside the reef region. Its largest-island status refers to island area, not to the number of coral reefs, the length of the reef system, or the size of the marine park.

Fraser Island, now officially K’gari, is much larger but lies outside the Great Barrier Reef island group. Lizard Island and the Whitsunday islands are prominent reef destinations, but neither is the largest island in this comparison.