The Department of Environment and Science (DES) has temporarily closed several beachfront camping areas on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) as a proactive measure following recent people and wongari (dingo) negative interactions.
Beachfront camping zones 3 (Poyungan and Winnam), 4 (Guluri and Eli) and 5 (Maheno and Wahba) will be closed from 17 August until further notice.
Campers already camping in these zones will be permitted to stay at their sites until 17 August, after this date campers will need to move to a different camping area.
These campsites will remain closed during the September school holidays.
There are plenty of alternative camping areas available including beachfront camping zones 1 (Govi and Wongai), 2 (One Tree, Cornwells, Gabala) and 6 (Eugarie, Yurru and Guruman), or in the fenced camping areas at Eli, One Tree, Wongai and Cornwells on the eastern side of the island.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers are also asking visitors to avoid preparing or consuming food and sunbaking lying down at Eli Creek and lakeshores areas.
There have been a number of high-risk interactions between visitors and dingoes currently frequenting the area between Poyungan Rocks and The Pinnacles.
Rangers are closely monitoring the wongari situation and will be conducting additional patrols and briefings in cooperative wongari management to educate visitors on dingo safety and awareness.
