Portal:Queensland/Selected article/18

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in eastern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth. Although the land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle, and wildlife is threatened by introduced species and weeds, the relatively undisturbed eucalyptus wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognized for their global environmental significance.

The west coast borders the Gulf of Carpentaria and the east coast borders the Coral Sea. At the peninsula’s widest point, it is 430 km from the Bloomfield River, in the southeast, across to the west coast (just south of the Aboriginal community of Kowanyama). It is some 660 km from the southern border of Cook Shire, to the tip of Cape York. At the tip of the peninsula lies Cape York, the northernmost point on the Australian continent. It was named by Lieutenant James Cook on 21 August 1770 in honor of Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, a brother of King George III of the United Kingdom