Christmas Island (Tasmania)
| Christmas Island | ||
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| Waters | Indian Ocean , Great Australian Bay , Bass Strait | |
| Archipelago | New Year Island Group | |
| Geographical location | 39 ° 40 ′ 48 " S , 143 ° 49 ′ 12" E | |
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| surface | 63.49 ha | |
| Highest elevation | 2 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Christmas Island is an uninhabited, 63.49 hectares large island in southeastern Australia , which the state of Tasmania belongs. She is part of the New Year Island group . Farther north, separated by a 600 meter wide sea passage, the slightly larger, also uninhabited, the islands eponymous island New Year Iceland ; the nearest inhabited island is King Island in an east to south direction at a distance of about four kilometers.
Towards the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, seals were also hunted on Christmas Island and the products obtained from them were loaded off New Year Island; today the island is a protected area in the form of a nature reserve , especially for birds .
location
The island is located northwest of King Island and thus northwest of the north-western tip of Tasmania, about halfway between Cape Grim in Tasmania and Cape Otway in Victoria . The large-scale classification corresponds to that of the larger neighboring island of New Year Island.
This island is also surrounded by several rocks above and below the sea and is relatively flat; its highest point is two meters above sea level. Between Christmas and King Island is the southwestern part of the King George Strait sea passage, also known as King George Passage, with comparatively deep water; further northeast is the anchorage of Franklin Road, off New Year Island , which was mainly used in the 19th century for boat trips to New Year, King and Christmas Island. Management of Christmas Island is not done by the municipal authority King Iceland Municipality , but directly by the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) as part of the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) .
Older, alternative name
In the 19th century, Christmas Island was given the different name South New Year ('s) Island in individual sources as a distinction to the neighboring island, which was accordingly referred to as North New Year (' s) Island.
history
When exactly and by whom Christmas Island was discovered is not entirely clear. There is an indication that this island as early as the 1790s by fur hunters to hunt fur seals , fur seals and elephant seals was visited. The local populations were severely decimated in the following decades to the point of extermination of individual species. There are no indications for people to stay on Christmas Island for a longer period than for New Year Island. In 1987, wildlife biologist Nigel Brothers of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and a team first visited Christmas Island and then New Year Island to map them and collect data on fauna and flora. The data flowed decisively into the later protection of Christmas Island.
fauna and Flora
Despite its comparatively small size, the uninhabited Christmas Island is an important breeding, rearing and resting place for various species of seabirds, including various migratory birds . For example, Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis , waders from the plover family, nest in the dune areas near the shore . A special feature of the island is the occurrence of tiger otters , poisonous snakes, which are also common on the much larger island of King Island. Otherwise, the flora and fauna there is similar to that of the more than 120 other islands of the Bass Strait of a similar size.
Christmas Island Nature Reserve
Christmas Island has been under state protection since January 29, 1992; on the other hand, the neighboring New Year Island was placed under protection as early as June 1957. There is a general management plan with regular reserve reports . The area around Christmas Island is classified as a Strict Nature Reserve according to Category Ia of the IUCN Protected Areas Categories System of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) ; this is a "protected area that is mainly managed for research purposes" and therefore has a high protection status. Together with the surrounding coastal fringes, the Nature Reserve of Christmas Island covers an area of 94.52 hectares. It is one of 86 protected zones of this type in Tasmania, most of which are assigned to Category Ia, but some are also assigned to Categories IV and V. As intended, the Nature Reserve of Christmas Island serves, on the one hand, for the targeted protection of seabirds and , on the other hand, that of the tiger otters that live there ; it is the only Tasmanian protection zone that is explicitly intended for the protection of snakes.
literature
- Nigel Brothers , David Pemberton: Tasmania's Offshore Islands: Seabirds and Other Natural Features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 2001, ISBN 0-7246-4816-X , pp. 2 f. and 45-55, especially pp. 47-49 (English).
- Robert P. Whitworth: Bailliere's Tasmanian Gazetteer and Road Guide - Containing the Most Recent and Accurate Information as to Every Place in the Colony. FF Balliere, Melbourne 1877 (English) ( PDF ), p. 114 f. ("King's Island)" and 144 ("New Year's Islands").
- Nigel Brothers, David Pemberton, N. Smith: A subfossil site on New Year Island. (PDF). In: The Victorian Naturalist . Volume 108, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Blackburn, Victoria, Australia 1991, p. 110 f. (English).
- Norman James Brian Plomley, Kristen Anne Henley: The Sealers of Bass Strait and the Cape Barren Island Community. Blubber Head Press, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 1990, ISBN 978-0-908528-21-9 (English).
- François Péron, Helen Mary Micco: King Island and the sealing trade, 1802. Roebuck Society, Canberra, ACT, Australia 1971 (English).
Web links
- Christmas Island in Tasmania with further links to the surrounding rocks and reefs of the island on the web portal mapcarta.com , accessed on February 23, 2019 (English).
- EWN Butcher: King's Island . Map, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Melbourne 1887, accessed February 23, 2019.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Nigel Brothers, David Pemberton: Tasmania's Offshore Islands: Seabirds and Other Natural Features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 2001, ISBN 0-7246-4816-X , pp. 47-49 (English).
- ↑ Christmas Island in Tasmania with further links to the surrounding rocks and reefs of the island on the web portal mapcarta.com , accessed on February 23, 2019 (English).
- ^ Nigel Brothers, David Pemberton, N. Smith: A subfossil site on New Year Island . In: The Victorian Naturalist . Volume 108, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Blackburn, Victoria, Australia 1991, p. 110 f. (English).
- ^ Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) (ed.): King Island Biodiversity Management Plan . Threatened Species Section, Hobart / Tasmania, Australia 2012, ISBN 978-0-7246-6794-9 , accessed February 22, 2019.
- ↑ Overview of the Tasmanian protected areas on the web portal of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (pdf) , accessed on February 23, 2019 (English).