Whale frees itself following stranding off Queensland's Stradbroke Island 
 
 Updated 
 
 A whale has finally managed to free itself after spending hours stranded on a sandbar in waters off Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane. 
 
 A Queensland Parks and Wildlife (QPW) spokesman said they first received reports on Thursday night of a mother and calf stranded on the sandbar at Dunwich, on North Stradbroke Island. 
 
 He said they managed to free themselves before the mother was re-stranded closer to shore this morning. 
 
 Footage shot earlier this morning showed the distressed calf swimming nearby and apparently trying to push it off. 
 
 At about 8:15am the mother managed to free itself. 
 
 A QPW boat is trailing the whales to help herd them out to sea and away from shallow waters. 
 
 Topics: animals, human-interest, qld 
 
 First posted ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Whale calf 'helps' push its stranded mother to safety 
 
 A humpback whale which was stranded on an Australian sandbank has freed itself after its calf was seen apparently nudging it into deeper water. 
 
 The whale was spotted near North Stradbroke Island, about 80km (50 miles) east of Brisbane, early on Wednesday morning. 
 
 Her distressed calf was later seen apparently pushing her as she splashed in the water to get free. 
 
 About 40 minutes after getting stuck, the whale was able to dislodge herself. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Whale calf tries to push its stranded mother to safety 
 
 Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS) personnel were despatched to help the pair and planned to stabilise them until a team from Sea World, further along the coast, could arrive to help free them. 
 
 But incoming tides and the efforts of the young whale helped the mother get off the sandbank before they arrived. 
 
 Image copyright QPWS Image caption The pair are also believed to have been stranded nearby overnight, before becoming stuck again 
 
 "The whale was able to free itself and the adult and the calf were able to swim away," a spokesperson for QPWS told the BBC, adding that they successfully helped the pair out through shallow waters to the open sea. 
 
 "The mother was a bit tired and distressed". 
 
 Image copyright QPWS Image caption QPWS followed the pair to help them make it to deep water and avoid "restranding" 
 
 Whales are common at this time of year on the Queensland coast, where many go to give birth and begin rearing their calves before heading back to Antarctic waters. ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented. 
 
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– Workers in Australia's Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services were saved some work Wednesday morning, and they've apparently got a young humpback whale to thank. Responding to help an adult whale beached on a sandbar, the workers found that she had managed to free herself before they got there. The incoming tide surely helped, but both the BBC and Australia's ABC report that her young calf appeared to be trying to nudge her off the sandbar near North Stradbroke Island, about 60 miles south of Brisbane. (See this video.) "The mother was a bit tired and distressed," says a QPWS spokesperson. Whales are a common sight off the Queensland coast this time of year, as they migrate north from their Antarctic habitats to give birth to new calves. Australian scientists have been using drones to study the migration, mating, and behavioral patterns of whales, the West Australian reports. (Humpbacks have been known to save other animals from killer whales.)