The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the charity controversially granted $443 million by the Turnbull government to co-ordinate reef research, has finally bowed to pressure to reveal the names of its four founding members.

The not-for-profit group, which is under scrutiny in a Senate inquiry, on Wednesday revealed its four founders in late 1999 to be Sir Sydney Schubert, Sir Ian McFarlane, John B Reid and David Windsor.

Fish swim among bleached coral in the Great Barrier Reef. Credit:Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

The disclosure confirms speculation, reported by Fairfax Media in May, that the late Sir Ian, a Queensland shale oil developer, had been among the founders. The organisation has previously declined to reveal its founders, and three of its directors have been unavailable to give evidence to the inquiry.

Of the others, late Sir Sydney was a prominent Queensland public servant and a founding director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.