History of the Coral Sea National Nature Reserves — Coringa-Herald and Lihou Reef

Lihou Reef, Mark Hallam

The Coral Sea islands were discovered by Europeans in the early 1800's.

The Coringa Islets were named after the Coringa Packet, a sailing ship wrecked there in 1845. Relics of guano mining during the 1860's still remain on Chilcott Islet in the Coringa group.

The Herald Cays were named after the HMS Herald, which carried out hydrographic surveys in the Coral Sea between 1849 and 1861.

In the early 1960's, scientific parties visited the area and recommended total protection of a sample of the islets. This led to the declaration of two reserves — Coringa-Herald and Lihou Reef on 16 August 1982.