Australia’s tally of 8222 islands span the tropics to the sub-Antarctic. No other country on Earth revels in a richer diversity of offshore habitats. Many are incomparable natural refuges. Some host plants and animals that live nowhere else. Others give sanctuary to species harried into extinction on the mainland. These isles have seen it all – havens of escape, they nurture creative exiles, as well as renegade spirits of every stripe.