[1] Situated on Dunk Island in far north Queensland, the grave was made in 1923 for the remains of the renowned author and naturalist, Edmund James (Ted) Banfield.

The cairn erected over it soon after and the memorial reserve established around it in 1971, honour the man popularly known as "The Beachcomber" for his set of internationally successful books about its native flora and fauna.

This position bought him into contact with prominent North Queensland separationists such as Robert Philp, Thomas Hollis Hopkins and Thankful Willmett.

To pay for his fare with the British-India Steam Navigation Company he wrote a series, entitled "Homeward Bound", of seven articles promoting the northern sea route to England via the Torres Strait.

[1] Diagnosed as tubercular and suffering nervous collapse, Banfield resigned from the North Queensland Newspaper Co. and he and his wife moved to the island on 28 September 1897, initially for a six-month trial.

They and a manservant were the only Europeans in residence on the island; camping in tents and later clearing a small portion of land for a prefabricated hut and a plantation.

To the south of the house was a large swamp; to the north and surrounded by dense scrub there was a cleared cultivation area with coconut palms.

His recording of these details was particularly timely, as the local Aboriginal population was removed to missions in the early twentieth century (possibly the Hull River Settlement before 1918, and then to Palm Island).

He offered to support this proposal by assuming the role of Honorary Warden of the Isles in order to uphold the aims of the Native Birds Protection Act 1877.

[1] Banfield maintained a steady writing schedule, documenting his experiences and observations, and selling publications to supplement his meagre income.

[1] At the time of his death due to appendicitis in 1923, at the age of 70, Banfield was a well known author, his passing being reported in The Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald.

At the 1929 Australian Writers Festival, Chisholm noted that Banfield's work had "won a chorus of posthumous approval from every part of the world".

[1] Close to the beach a modest, semi-enclosed timber structure with a hipped roof of corrugated iron served as the hotel bar.

During World War II the Royal Australian Air Force used these facilities and also constructed an airstrip, a radar station and swing bridge on the property.

[1] Promoted as an historic attraction, the grave site is accessed from the resort via a narrow inclining concrete path with supporting directional signage.

The path, lined with dense vegetation, leads to a rainforest clearing that is roughly square-shaped in plan with the grave, marked by a cairn, situated in the centre.

The tablet memorialising Edmund Banfield is rectangular in shape with a convex upper edge and is inscribed with his name, birthplace and date, death place and date, and a quote from Henry David Thoreau, as follows:[1]Edmund James Banfield The Beachcomber Born Liverpool, England, 4th September 1852 Died Dunk Island, 2nd June 1923 If a man does not keep pace with his companions perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Banfield Memorial Reserve and Grave is located on Dunk Island, which lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Both his grave (1923), marked by a cairn made of local stone, and the reserve around it (created in 1971), which was part of his former selection and now supports the rainforest habitat he so eloquently recorded in his renowned books, are memorials to Banfield and his drive to protect the natural environment.

The memorial reserve and grave has a special association with EJ Banfield (1852–1923), who contributed significantly to our understanding of tropical environments and habitats between 1897 and 1923, as well as regarding the Aboriginal traditional owners of the Family Islands before they were removed to various Queensland mission settlements in the early twentieth century.