After a Queensland couple spent about $200,000 to reclaim a lease on an idyllic island, the State Government has made most of it national park.

Cathryn Radclyffe and her husband, John Morris, have been in limbo since March and worried about the restrictions that could be imposed if Middle Percy Island,70 nautical miles south-east of Mackay, became national park.

Their fears are shared by many central Queenslanders and yachties that have visited the ‘‘must-see’’ paradise - covering 1657 hectares -  over the decades.

On Friday night, 15 minutes before the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) replied to Fairfax Media's enquiries about the government’s plans for the island, a departmental officer telephoned the couple to tell them a decision had been made.

In a written response a Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) spokesman, Damien Head, said details of any proposed future authority could not be released to the media but he confirmed ‘‘a portion’’ was now conservation park and the rest was national park.

It is believed 80 per cent is national park and 20 per cent conservation park. Climate Change Minister Kate Jones had promised a process of public consultation which critics say has not occurred.

The island is famous for its beauty. An A-frame building featuring name plaques and memorabilia from people from all over Australia and overseas and a homestead full of history and camaraderie.

Ms Radclyffe was a second cousin to eccentric Englishman, the late Andy Martin, who bought the lease in 1964 and stayed there for 33 years.

Mr Martin, who became known as "Lord Percy" transformed the island into a boaties' magnet, offering goat’s meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey and bread and meals at the homestead, an energetic 1.5km uphill walk from the pristine beach.

Liz and Jon Hickling arrived at the island in 1989 when Martin’s health was failing and helped him tend milk the goats and tend the beehives, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, ducks, cattle and ponies.

They sold honey, mango chutney, beeswax candles, marmalades, jams, soaps, tanned goatskin rugs, goatskins for bagpipes, and for drum skins, eggs, fresh squeezed lime juice and bread. They also self-published a 180-page book full of photos, articles and historic documents about the island.

Over the next seven years they taught their sons, Jacob and Justin through distance education, maintained machinery and the historic homestead and built a tree house that yachties still use.

In 1996, Mr Martin returned to England leaving the Hicklings in charge and promising to transfer their names to the lease.

The couple was horrified to learn in 2001 that Michael Cotter, a sometime resident of Middle Percy, had flown to England and persuaded Mr Martin, 74 and suffering from schizophrenia, to sign over the $320,000 lease for $10.

The broken-hearted family left the island in 2001.

After Mr Martin’s death in 2003, Ms Radclyffe - who cared for him for about the last two years of his life and spent a lot of time on the island - took Mr Cotter to court and won back the lease.

She immediately gifted 45 per cent of the lease to the Hicklings but that became worthless when the lease expired in March.

Ms Radclyffe said on Friday night she would meet Mr Head at Airlie Beach on Monday to discuss what the changes.

‘‘I am trying to come to terms with the situation,’’ she said guardedly.

‘‘If yachties who are the major users of the island think their opinions have not been heeded, then they should let the government know.’’

Mr Head’s statement said: ‘‘Conservation park dedication provides opportunities for the lessee to continue their presence on the island and play a role in maintaining the cultural traditions that are so popular amongst yachties. These new protected area tenures and proposed future management arrangements for Middle Percy Island accommodate the concerns raised in recent visitor feedback.’’

Public consultation would occur in the development of a future management plan for the island, as required under the Nature Conservation Act, he said.

Ms Radclyffe said she completed a four-year course in land management and planning and spent six years with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to help her run the island effectively.

Publishers of The Coastal Passage boating magazine, Kay and Bob Norson, said they had been ‘‘inundated’’ with letters decrying the government’s proposed changes.

Mr Norson scoffed at what he called ‘‘the department’s consultation after the event’’.

‘‘John and Cate with real public support have made heroic efforts and sacrifices to save the island for the community,’’ he said.

‘‘To have it taken by bureaucrats that have shown nothing but incompetence in the management of other precious landmarks beggars belief.’’