Community
24 September, 2024
Cruising for 100 years
TOURIST cruises between Cairns and Green Island have turned 100-years-old.
Great Adventures Reef and Green Island Cruises, along with Green Island Resort, are celebrating the century with a collection of commemorative postcards and a specially built Green Island post box are the centrepiece, bringing together the nostalgic novelty of physically writing and mailing a postcard in the instantaneous digital age.
It was in 1924 when the pioneering Hayles family started a fortnightly ferry service to Green Island.
By 1988, the company was sold and renamed Great Adventures, continuing an iconic legacy of Green Island and Great Barrier Reef tourism.
“Visitors are now able to share their island holiday with family and friends through handwritten postcards mailed right here from Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef,” said Quicksilver Group managing director Tony Baker.
“Adding to the novelty of posting a card, a special AR feature via a QR code on the post box enables a unique photo opportunity with an underwater scene – bridging the old with new technology,” he said.
“And from the recipient’s end, it will also be a wonderful surprise to receive a letter in the mail that isn’t a bill,” he said.
Mr Baker said Green Island had played an important role in Tropical North Queensland’s tourism industry and had a remarkable history – including the world’s first glass bottom boat and stationary underwater observatory.
“Today, the love affair with Green Island continues globally as one of the most popular day visitor islands on the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.
“The Green Island post box, built with traditional craftsmanship by the Green Island Resort workshop team is located at the island information counter.” Special commemorative postcards and stamps can be bought at the island dive shop.
Fun facts:
The world’s first glass bottom boat was launched at Green Island in 1937 by Hayles. It was a simple small wooden dinghy with glass floats overhanging the sides. By 1948 a more modern version of the glass bottom boat was introduced with glass panels inserted into the floorboards
Green Island was home to the world’s first stationary underwater observatory installed in 1954. It was famously visited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1970
Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef started on Green Island in 1899 with Fijian-style grass huts.
