Macquarie Harbor
| Macquarie Harbor | ||
|---|---|---|
 Macquarie Harbor, NASA World Wind satellite image |
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| Land mass | Tasmania | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 18 ′ S , 145 ° 22 ′ E | |
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| width | approx. 5 km | |
| length | approx. 32 km | |
| Tributaries | King River , Gordon River | |
Macquarie Harbor is a bay on the west coast of the Australian state of Tasmania . The southeastern part of the bay is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Tasmanian wilderness .
geography
It has a northwest-southeast extension of about 32 km and is about 5 km wide. The King River and Gordon River flow into the bay. The narrow opening from Macquarie Harbor to the Indian Ocean is called Hells Gates because of its dangerous tidal currents . This name is partly traced back to the convicts who had to pass this point on the way to Sarah Island.
history
The first European settlement in Macquarie Harbor was the Macquarie Harbor penal colony on Sarah Island. The island was used to house rebellious convicts from other camps in Australia such as Port Arthur . It seemed particularly suitable for this because of its extreme isolation and harsh climate. In his novel Life imprisonment (For the Term of his Natural Life) describes Mark Clarke (1846 to 1881), among others, the states on Sarah Iceland. Another novel about Sarah Iceland, which describes the penal colony there by the author Richard Flanagan entitled Gould's Book of Fish (Gould's Book of Fish). Later, the port of Strahan was mainly used to transport raw materials from nearby mining settlements such as Queenstown . Today Strahan is a base for tourism in the region.
Web links
- The Last of Macquarie Harbor from Old Tales of a Young Country by Markus Clarke (English)
- For the Term of His Natural Life by Markus Clarke (English)