Flinders Island
| Flinders Island | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Bass Street | |
| Archipelago | Furneaux archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 40 ° 0 ′ S , 148 ° 7 ′ E | |
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| length | 64 km | |
| width | 29 km | |
| surface | 1 330 km² | |
| Highest elevation | Mount Strezelecki 756 m |
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| Residents | 776 (2011) <1 inh / km² |
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| main place | Whitemark | |
Flinders Island is an Australian island at the eastern end of the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia , which is inhabited by about 900 people. It is the largest island in the Furneaux group .
geography
Flinders Island is about 55 kilometers as the crow flies from Tasmania. Around 20 kilometers north of Cape Portland , the 1,330 km² island is 29 kilometers wide (SW - NE) and 64 kilometers in length (NW - SE). The highest point is Mount Strezelecki, 756 meters high. The west of the island is characterized by rocky dunes and long beaches, while at the east end there are lagoon beaches, which are considered particularly beautiful. The southern half of the island protrudes from the north into the Roaring Forties . During the last ice age, today's island was part of the land bridge between Australia and Tasmania.
places
There are five settlements on the island: Killiecrankie , Emita , Lady Barron , Cape Barren Island, and Whitemark . Whitemark is the administrative center of the Local Government Area Flinders Municipality of the Furneaux Group and the largest town on the island. In Emita there is a small exhibition with old photos and newspaper clippings. There are some stranded shipwrecks on the east coast. The Strzelecki National Park is located in the southwest of the island .
climate
In general, as on all islands of the Furneaux Group, there is a maritime, warm-temperate climate on Flinders Island. The annual rainfall amounts to about 600 mm in the southwest. In the mountainous center, 800 mm is not uncommon. The average temperature in winter is 7 ° C, in summer 22.5 ° C, with temperatures of 30–33 ° C being measured in the particularly warm months.
fauna
The island is known far beyond its borders for its occurrence of wallabies as well as bilch , ring and climbing baglers . The island has become one of their last retreats for numerous subspecies.
history
After the end of the last great ice age ( Weichsel Ice Age or Worm Ice Age ), when Flinders was still connected to Australia and Tasmania by land bridges, the area was still populated by people. For unknown reasons, the population there died out a few thousand years ago. Some authors conclude from this that populations of a few hundred people could not exist in the long term.
Flinders Island was discovered by accident by Tobias Furneaux , the captain of James Cook's support ship, when it was separated from the Endeavor in the fog on March 19, 1773. George Bass and Matthew Flinders circled the islands between October 1798 and June 1799. While the strait was named after the ship's doctor Bass, Flinders gave the island its name.
In 1830, after carrying out the so-called Black Line of British colonizers, the last 100 Tasmanians jailed in Tasmania and relocated to Flinders Iceland. Hoping to be safe from persecution by the white settlers there, they willingly followed. On the island they had to submit to a European way of life, but most of them perished from depression, alcoholism and illnesses. In 1847 there were still 47 Tasmanians who were relocated to Oyster Cove near Hobart . The island was not repopulated until 1950, when a military base was established on the island.
literature
- Matthew Flinders: The first circumnavigation of Australia. Edition Erdmann, 2001, ISBN 3-86503-217-6
Web links
- Flinders Iceland Information (English)