culture
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The Great Barrier Reef has a great cultural impact on Australians but especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Human interaction with the Great Barrier Reef began thousands of years before Captain Cook struck a reef near the current site of Cooktown. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have fished and also hunted through the waters they have navigated between the islands. Australia’s aboriginal people not only know of the existence of the Reef, they made large canoes that enabled them to travel to the islands and outer reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is important in the history and culture of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Important cultural sites and values are on many islands and reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Region.
The Great Barrier Reef holds great aesthetic value too many including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Many years ago before the sea levels began to rise there were places in the Great Barrier Reef that were not submerged in water these places were used as meeting places, places to gather and eat or rocks that were decorated usually decorated with shells. Even though most of these places are now covered under water some elders still gather along the coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_South_Wales