From the Sydney Morning Herald 26/2/1866, an article featuring a cruise inside the Barrier Reef describes an expeditions stay at Green Island near Cairns.

The wind throughout our stay was principally from the south-east, but in January we had two or three hard blows from the N to NW with rain; one gale uprooted some of the trees and wrung the heads off others. The sea also rose one night very high, nearly covering the island, leaving but a small spot of about twenty feet square free of water.