The Whitsunday Islands is a collection of
continental islands of various sizes off the
central coast of Queensland, Australia,
approximately 900 kilometres (560 miles) north of
Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are
situated off the coast by the town of Bowen while
the southernmost Whitsunday islands are off the
coast by Mackay. The island group is centred on
Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial
centre is Hamilton Island. The traditional owners of
the area are the Ngaro People and the Gia People
(Birri Gubba language group) whose Juru Clan
has the only legally recognised native title in the
region.