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Coral cay in Queensland, Australia

Heron Island is a coral cay located near the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Great Barrier Reef, north east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and north north west of the state capital Brisbane. The island is situated on the leeward (western) side of Heron Reef, a fringing platform reef of significant biodiversity, supporting around 900 of the 1,500 fish species and 72% of the coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef. During the summer months Heron Island is also home to over 200,000 birds including Noddy Terns and Mutton Birds. The island is about long and at its widest, giving an area of approximately The highest point, near the western tip, is above sea level. A dune ridge along the southern shore rises some above sea level, lower dunes on the north eastern side are only about above the sea. Heron Island and an extrapolated version of the research station are the scene of much of the first part of Arthur C. Clarke's The Deep Range.

There is no evidence of Indigenous presence or activity on Heron Island; it is over from the Australian mainland. The island was discovered on 12 January 1843 by a Royal Navy expedition comprising the corvette and the cutter Bramble. The expedition, commanded by Captain Francis Blackwood, was engaged in surveying the eastern edge of the Great Barrier Reef to map out detailed plans for safe passages within the reef. The island was named by Lieutenant Charles Bampfield Yule, the commander of Bramble.

Heron Island Resort, operated by The Aldesta Group, is located in the north west corner of the island. The resort is a popular getaway for scuba diving and snorkelling and accommodates up to 300 guests and 100 staff members. In March 2012 Heron Island Resort was featured in the BBC's nature TV series, Great Barrier Reef.

The University of Queensland Heron Island Research Station is situated in the island's south west quarter. Established in the 1950s by the Great Barrier Reef Committee with the University of Queensland becoming a partner in its operations in 1970, the facility is one of the world's principal coral reef research stations, with a wide variety of research undertaken on coral reef ecology. Heron Island Research Station suffered a large fire on Friday, 30 March 2007. No one was injured. In June 2008 the new student accommodation, comprising 80 beds, was officially opened and used for the first time by Tropical Marine Network students The teaching laboratories and new research building with 9 research labs, library, darkroom, computer room and aquaria deck were officially reopened in February 2009. In 2010, a state of the art climate change experimental facility was opened at the Research Station. Sir David Attenborough and Atlantic Productions filmed segments for the documentary, David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef, at Heron Island Research Station in late 2014.

The eastern half of the island is protected and forms part of the Capricornia Cays National Park, with a permanent ranger's station onsite.

There is a small man made channel and wooden jetty on the western shore of the island, where the daily catamaran launch from Gladstone docks and supplies to the island are delivered. The rusted wreck of HMCS Protector lies at the entrance to the channel, and was towed to there in 1945 to form a breakwater for visiting vessels.

The island has no fresh water supply. A small desalination plant on the island uses reverse osmosis technology to supply water for human consumption. Similarly, three diesel generators (and some solar panels) supply electricity to the island.

Heron Island has notably rich soil for a tropical coral cay, particularly in the dense southern forest. This is due to the presence of tens of thousands of wedge tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) during breeding season. These birds disturb the humus as they dig their nesting burrows, and thus prevent the formation of Jemo soil, a phosphatic hardpan topped off by raw humus. The hardpan is formed by leaching of surface or tree nesting seabirds' guano in the absence of burrowing animals., with Melanthera biflora (probably var. canescens), and the introduced wild poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora) – are found here and there. Herbaceous plants are scarce here, mainly consisting of the grass Stenotaphrum micranthum. The more open forest is composed of much the same plants, but the Pisonia does not predominate as much. A few Pandanus tectorius screwpines are also found here, and the understory is far more prominent. and Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum, as well as papaya (Carica papaya), The island's forest and surrounding dunes provide habitat for thousands of nesting seabirds, including the wedge tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) and the south western black noddy (Anous minutus minutus), during the breeding season between October and April. And even though the terms "heron" and "egret" are not scientific, the former is generally used to denote the large Ardea whereas the smaller Egretta species are usually called "egrets". Insofar, the only "true" heron that could ever be found on Heron Island is the white necked heron (Ardea pacifica), which is only seen every now and then as a rare vagrant. Since 2003, a pair of white bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) have nested on Heron Island. However, in June 2019 the tree their nest sat in fell down killing the female. As of October 2019 the male has been seen with another adult but no nest has been built. At least one species of rat, probably the widespread polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), is found on the island. A notable and much studied invertebrate of Heron Island is Cerithium moniliferum, a small marine snail. These animals will form large groups as the tide recedes. Feeding on beach rock at a specific height over the average low tide level, the snails slowly move about in their clusters, preserving the precious moisture that allows them to breathe overwater.

Heron Reef is a lagoonal platform reef. It has developed in a high energy environment with high tidal flows promoting water turnover and unobstructed access to the ocean. The reef dates from the Holocene period but shows evidence of possible development in the Pleistocene period. Core analysis of the reef from 1937, demonstrated a thickness of at least 15m of stacked limestone, with an eastward sloping disconformity.

A photo of Heron Island is included on the Voyager Golden Record which was sent past the limits of our Solar System aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. The photo of Heron Island was selected as one of the examples that portrayed the diversity of life and culture on Earth.