Councilor Island
| Councilor Island | ||
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| Waters | Bass Street | |
| Archipelago | New Year Island Group | |
| Geographical location | 39 ° 49 '48 " S , 144 ° 9' 46" E | |
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| length | 540 m | |
| width | 310 m | |
| surface | 10.53 ha | |
| Highest elevation | 5 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Councilor Iceland is an uninhabited, 10.53 hectares large island in southeastern Australia , which the state of Tasmania belongs. She is part of the New Year Island group (in a broad sense). About three kilometers to the west is the inhabited, much larger island of King Island with the headland of Cowper Point. The figures for the height of Councilor Island vary between five meters and 23 meters. The island continues to the south with rocks above and below the sea. The rocks around Councilor Island caused ship damage several times .
Towards the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries seals were also hunted on Councilor Island and the products obtained from them were loaded onto ships by the hunters based on New Year Island ; today the island is a protected area in the form of a nature reserve , especially for birds .
Older, alternative names
In the 19th century Councilor Island had in individual sources the slightly different names Counceller Island and Councellor Island, also Sea Elephant Rock; the latter goes back to the Sea Elephant Bay of King Island located southwest of the island, the Sea Elephant River to the west and the Sea Elephant Reef to the north-northeast.
fauna
In Iceland Councilor breed different types of marine and coastal birds, including fairy penguins , short-tailed shearwaters , fairies and petrels , Dickschnabel- and silver head gulls , sooty oystercatcher , Schwarzgesichtscharben and Caspian tern . Of reptiles are Eastern blue-tongued skink to mention. The breeding and rearing area of the short-tailed shearwater alone covers an area of 3.0 hectares.
At the beginning of the 19th century Councilor Island was, as well as Albatross Island and Georges Rocks, an important breeding area for southern fur seals ; however, these islands have remained uninhabited since the times of the seal hunt . The numbers of South African fur seals have now recovered; however, this species has so far only reintroduced on the main Australian continent. The previously hunted South American fur seals (Arctocephalus australis) have not returned to Councilor Island either.
Councilor Island Nature Reserve
Since August 6, 2008, Councilor Island has been under state protection in its entirety. A general management plan with regular reserve reports does not yet exist for the comparatively young and relatively small Nature Reserve. The area around Councilor 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, Councilor Island's Nature Reserve covers an area of 18.47 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.
Sea Elephant Reef and Flying Squirrel Rock
About a mile north-northeast of Councilor Island is Sea Elephant Reef. Only when the tide is pronouncedly low does the reef protrude up to 60 centimeters above the water surface. Within a radius of around 900 meters, there are undersea rocks that are dangerous for shipping.
About half a mile west of Councilor Island is a rock now known as the Flying Squirrel Rock. It is named after the Brigantine Flying Squirrel , measured at 79 tons , which ran aground here in August 1875 (according to another source on October 21, 1875) and sank without harming human life.
Importance of Councilor Island to Shipping
An important shipping route runs in a north-south direction east of Councilor Island. It leads in the north in particular to Melbourne in the state of Victoria , in a south-easterly direction to Burnie in northern Tasmania and on to Devonport and George Town or Launceston . Many ships call at Grassy or occasionally Naracoopa on King Island to bring goods and people to this island or to transport raw materials and agricultural products from there to other Australian regions.
Councilor Island is an important landmark for captains in determining the position and distance to King Island. On Councilor Island there is a white hut with a flashing light - automatically operated by batteries - (built after 1952 and before 1973), which makes navigation easier even in the dark or in fog. The lamp is located 28 meters above sea level and can be seen up to eight nautical miles . The closest such resource is the Cape Wickham lighthouse on the northern tip of King Island and further south Cumberland and Grassy Island.
As early as 1884, there were considerations to better secure shipping on the east coast of King Island. However, the plans envisaged a tower in the area of the Sea Elephant River on King Island and this only in connection with the construction of a ship landing stage; the project failed because the 7000 to 8000 pounds sterling determined for this purpose were not available.
Older plans for economic use of the island
At a time when no artificial fertilizer had yet been invented or when it was still too expensive, there were also attempts to mine guano on Councilor Island . It had formed over thousands of years around the breeding and rearing areas of the cormorants , shearwaters and seagulls .
In the 1990s, there was extensive scientific research, including in the waters around Iceland Councilor Schwarzlippen- abalone (Abalone, Haliotis rubra ) in aquaculture to breed. The muscle meat of these sea snails is considered a delicacy in some places , the shells are used to make mother- of- pearl . The program aimed to explore the possibilities of commercial exploitation and was later implemented elsewhere.
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. 3, 46 and in particular 53-55 (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)".
- 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
- Councilor Island with further links to the surrounding rocks and reefs of the island on the web portal mapcarta.com , accessed on February 24, 2019 (English).
- EWN Butcher: King's Island (map, 1887). Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Melbourne 1887 , accessed February 24, 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. 3, 46 and in particular 53-55 (English).
- ↑ a b c d e Councilor Island with further links to the surrounding rocks and reefs of the island on the web portal mapcarta.com , accessed on February 24, 2019 (English).
- ↑ a b c d e United States, Defense Mapping Agency, Hydrographic Center: Sailing Directions for the Southeast Coast of Australia: Cape Northumberland to Port Jackson, Including Tasmania . Defense Mapping Agency, Hydrographic Center 1975, p. 66 f. (English).
- ^ Roebuck Society (Ed.): Tasmanian Shipwrecks . Roebuck Society Publication, Edition 45, 2013, pp. 199 and 211 (English).
- ^ EWN Butcher: King's Island (map, 1887). Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Melbourne 1887 , accessed February 24, 2019.
- ↑ YES Naarding, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service: Study of the Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris in Tasmania . National Parks and Wildlife Service 1980, p. 89.
- ↑ Australian Academy of Science (ed.): Wildlife Research , Volume 31, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in cooperation with the Australian Academy of Science 2004, p. 308 (English).
- ↑ Overview of the Tasmanian protected areas on the web portal of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (pdf) , accessed on February 24, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Les Norman: Sea Wolves and Bandits: Sealing, Whaling, Smuggling and Piracy - Wild Men of Van Diemen's Land, Bushrangers and Bandits, Wrecks & Wreckers - With a Chronology of Curious and Interesting Facts Relating to Old Van Diemen's Land and (from 1856 ) to Tasmania . J. Walch & Sons Pty., 1946, p. 121 (English).
- ^ National Geospatial Intelligence Agency: List of Lights, Radio Aids and Fog Signals 2006 . ProStar Publications 2006, ISBN 978-1-577-85715-0 , p. 135 (English).
- ↑ Valmai Phillips: Romance of Australian Lighthouses . Rigby 1977, ISBN 978-0-727-00498-7 , p. 89 (English).
- ↑ Parliament of Tasmania (ed.): Journals and Printed Papers of the Parliament of Tasmania , Volume 67, Parliament of Tasmania 1884, p. 13 (English).
- ^ Richard Henry Hooper: The King Island Story . Peko-Wallsend 1973, p. 28 (English).
- ↑ George Evelyn Hutchinson: The Biogeochemistry of Vertebrate Excretion . In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (magazine), Volume 96, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA 1950, pp. 265 f. (English).
- ↑ David Tarbath: A population Assessment of Blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) in the Hogan and Kent Groups, Bass Strait . Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, Marine Research Laboratories, University of Tasmania 1999, ISBN 978-0-724-67202-8 , pp. 6, 16 and 30 (English).