1928 Great Barrier Reef expedition

[5] C. Maurice Yonge, a marine invertebrate researcher, was encouraged to join a proposed expedition to Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 1927.

Otter and Aubrey Nicholls would be assistants, and Frank Moorhouse of the University of Queensland would provide local marine biology knowledge.

[7] The Australian Museum also sent five people to help with the research throughout the year – Tom Iredale, Gilbert Whitley, William Boardman, Arthur Livingstone and Frank McNeill.

Indigenous workers were hired from the nearby Anglican mission at Yarrabah to work on Low Isles in support of the team.

Researchers investigated ocean conditions, taking hydrographic measurements, recording meteorological and tidal data and monitored plankton.

One of the first visitors to Low Isles during the Expedition was journalist Charles Barrett[11] whose newspaper articles were later published as a book.

[12] Maurice Yonge also published a book aimed at a general audience – A year on the Great Barrier Reef (1930).

In part due to the extensive newspaper coverage, tourists sought out the islands following the expedition to collect shells and corals.