Furneaux Group
Furneaux Group is located in Tasmania
Furneaux Group
Furneaux Group
EtymologyTobias Furneaux
Geography
LocationBass Strait
Coordinates40°06′54″S 148°06′54″E / 40.11500°S 148.11500°E / -40.11500; 148.11500
Total islandsapprox. 100
Major islandsFlinders Island, Cape Barren Island, and Clarke Island
Area2,010.3 km2 (776.2 sq mi)
Administration
StateTasmania
Local governmentFlinders Council
Demographics
Population795

The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of these islands after leaving Adventure Bay in 1773 on his way to New Zealand to rejoin Captain James Cook.[1] Navigator Matthew Flinders was the first European to explore the Furneaux Islands group, in the Francis in 1798, and later that year in the Norfolk.[2]

The largest islands in the group are Flinders Island, Cape Barren Island, and Clarke Island. The group contains five settlements: Killiecrankie, Emita, Lady Barron, Cape Barren Island, and Whitemark on Flinders Island, which serves as the administrative centre of the Flinders Council. There are also some small farming properties on the remote islands.

After seals were discovered there in 1798, the Furneaux Group of islands became the most intensively exploited sealing ground in Bass Strait.[3] A total of 29 islands in the Furneaux Group have been found to have some tangible link with sealing in the 19th century.[4]

The Aboriginal matriarch, Dolly Dalrymple, was born on the Furneaux Islands. Her mother was one of two Aboriginal women who had been kidnapped from northern Tasmania by the sealer George Briggs.[5]

King Island, at the western end of Bass Strait, is not a part of the group.

Administration

Islands in the Group

IslandCapitalOther citiesAreaPopulation
km2sq mi
Furneaux GroupWhitemarkLady Barron, The Corner, Emita, Killiecrankie2,010.3 776.2795
Babel Island Group5.01 1.930
Babel Island4.4 1.70
Cat Island0.39 0.150
Fifty Foot Rock0.02 0.00770
Other0 00
Storehouse Island0.2 0.0770
Badger Island GroupBadger IslandMount Chappell Island18.15 7.013
Badger IslandSouth East Point13.5 5.21
Goose Island1.09 0.420
Inner Little Goose Island0.045 0.0170
Little Badger Island0.025 0.00970
Little Goose Island0.036 0.0140
Mount Chappell Island3.45 1.332
OtherBeagle IslandNorth West Mount Chappell Islet0.004 0.00150
Bass PyramidBass Pyramid0.025 0.00970
Big Green Island GroupBig Green IslandEast Kangaroo Island4.1 1.66
Big Green Island1.57 0.614
Chalky Island0.41 0.160
East Kangaroo Island1.57 0.612
Isabella Island0.14 0.0540
Little Chalky Island0.05 0.0190
Mile Island0.04 0.0150
Other0.14 0.0540
Cape Barren IslandThe Corner478.4 184.767
Clarke Island82 321
Craggy IslandCraggy Island0.389 0.1500
Flinders IslandWhitemarkLady Barron1,367 528700
Franklin Sound Islands Important Bird AreaGreat DogTin Kettle21.362 8.24814
Anderson Island1.66 0.640
Boxen Island0.13 0.0500
Briggs Islet0.034 0.0130
Doughboy Island0.17 0.0660
Great Dog IslandGreat Dog Island3.75 1.4510
Lady Barron Island0.01 0.00390
Little Anderson Island0.13 0.0500
Little Dog IslandLittle Dog Island0.83 0.320
Little Green Island0.87 0.340
Long Island3.13 1.210
Neds Reef0.04 0.0150
OtherSpences IslandsBig Black Reef, GVH Rock, Mid Woody Islet, Ram, Apple Orchard Point, Billy Goat Reefs, Fisher Island, Samphire Island0.253 0.0980
Oyster RocksEast OysterWest Oyster0.07 0.0270
Pelican Island0.07 0.0270
Puncheon IslandPuncheon Island0.185 0.0711
Tin Kettle IslandTin Kettle1.86 0.722
Vansittart IslandBates BayHouse Bay8.17 3.151
Inner Sister Island7.48 2.890
OtherLittle IslandShag Rock0 00
Outer Sister IslandOuter Sister Island5.45 2.100
Pasco Island GroupRoydon Island1.1 0.420
Marriott Reef0.034 0.0130
Middle Pasco Islands0.084 0.0320
North Pasco Island0.28 0.110
Other0.122 0.0470
Roydon Island0.37 0.140
South Pasco Island0.21 0.0810
Passage Island GroupPassage Island4.47 1.732
Forsyth Island1.67 0.640
Gull Island0.085 0.0330
Low Islets0.02 0.00770
Moriarty Rocks0.025 0.00970
OtherBattery Island0.017 0.00660
Passage IslandPassage Island2.53 0.982
Spike IslandSpike IslandLittle Spike Island0.123 0.0470
Preservation Island GroupPreservation Island2.37 0.922
Key Island0.06 0.0230
Night Island0.026 0.0100
Other0.007 0.00270
Preservation IslandPreservation IslandHorseshoe Bay2.08 0.802
Rum Island0.197 0.0760
Prime Seal Island GroupPrime Seal Island12.8 4.90
Bird Island0.015 0.00580
Low IsletsSouth LowMiddle Low, North Low0.35 0.140
Other0.075 0.0290
Prime Seal IslandPeacock BaySouth Bay12.2 4.70
Wybalenna Island0.16 0.0620
Sentinel Island0.1 0.0390
Wright Rock0.094 0.0360
Furneaux GroupWhitemarkLady Barron, The Corner, Emita, Killiecrankie2,010.3 776.2795

Geology

The islands contain granite from the Devonian period, as well as unconsolidated limestone and sand from Cenozoic periods. During the last ice age, a land bridge joined Tasmania to the Australian mainland through this group of islands.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cumpston, J. S. (1973). First visitors to Bass Strait. Canberra: Roebuck Society. ISBN 0-9500858-8-X.
  2. ↑ Flinders, Matthew (1801). Observations on the coasts of Van Diemen's, Land on Bass's Strait and its islands, and on part of the coasts of New South Wales; intended to accompany the charts of the late discoveries in those countries.
  3. ↑ Kostoglou, Parry (1996). Sealing in Tasmania historical research project (First ed.). Hobart: Parks and Wildlife Service. pp. 90–1.
  4. ↑ Kostoglou, p.91.
  5. ↑ McFarlane, Ian (2005). "Dalrymple, Dolly (c. 1808 - 1864)". Australian Dictionary of Biography (Supplementary Volume ed.). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. p. 94. ISSN 1833-7538.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.