Flinders Island (South Australia)

Flinders Island is an island in the Investigator Group off the coast of South Australia approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of mainland town Elliston. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his younger brother Samuel Flinders, the second lieutenant on HMS Investigator in 1802. It is part of the Investigator Group Important Bird Area. The island has been subject to diamond exploration following the discovery of a wide range of kimberlite indicator minerals there.[3] These minerals include chromite, pyrope, diopside, picroilmenite, forsterite, orthopyroxene, as well as small diamonds.

This article is about the island in South Australia. For other uses, see Flinders Island.

Flinders Island

Flinders Island
Geography
Location	Great Australian Bight
Coordinates	33°42′49″S 134°29′49″E
Area	3,642 ha (9,000 acres)[1]
Highest elevation	66 m (217 ft)[2]
Administration
Australia

Flora & Fauna

Flinders' expedition described some aspects of the island's flora and fauna. Lower land was covered with large bushes, unlike islands previously passed further north. There was very little of the white, velvety grass Striplex or tufted wiry grass previously seen. A small macropod species was described as "numerous" and specimens were shot. There were a few small casuarinas growing on the island but firewood was scarce. The beaches were "frequented" by Australian sea lions, of which several family groups were closely inspected.[4]

Some time prior to 1911, sheep, horses, cattle, milk thistles and oats were introduced to Flinders Island,[5] presumably by Mr Willie Schlink and his family. At this time 1,500 acres of the island had been cleared and was producing 1,400 to 2,000 bags of wheat annually. 4,000 sheep were kept and black and white rabbits ran wild on the island. By the time of the island's sale in 1911, 30,000 wallabies had been killed there.[6]

Little penguin colony

Flinders Island supports a colony of little penguins which in 2006 was believed to be "probably declining", with a population of less than twenty birds.[7] An account of Flinders Island's wildlife published in 1934 stated that penguins could "be seen waddling soldier-like among the rocks and cave entrances that constitute their homes."[8]

History

European discovery and use

Flinders named the island after Samuel Flinders, the sloop’s second lieutenant and his younger brother on Saturday, 13 February 1802.[9]

A sealing camp was in place on the south-east side of the island by the 1820s.[10] The sealers, their Aboriginal wives and children numbered up to twenty people at one stage. A pastoral survey of the site in 1890 identified ten separate structures associated with the sealing community. Archaeological examination of these structures took place in the 1980s.

The Flinders Island Whaling and Sealing Site is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.[11]

Protected area status

Reserves declared by the South Australian government

A strip of land along the north coast of the island extending west from the island’s most northerly headland, Point Malcolm, has the subject of the subject of a heritage agreement since 29 August 1995. The parcel of land which is identified as No. HA1003 is sized at 279 hectares (690 acres). Since 2012, the waters adjoining the Flinders Island have been part of a habitat protection zone in the Investigator Marine Park.[12][13][14][15]

Non-statutory arrangements

Flinders Island is one of the islands included in the Investigator Islands Important Bird Area (sic) identified by BirdLife International.[14]

Citations and references

Citations

1. Robinson et al, 1996, page 189
2. DMH, 1985, chart 38
3. Cooper, S.A., 2004. New diamond field discovered in SA. MESA Journal 24, 6-9. Primary Industries & Resources South Australia publication. Archived 4 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
4. "EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA No. VIII". South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889). 7 October 1882. p. 1. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
5. "A ROMANTIC LAND". Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929). 15 February 1911. p. 8. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
6. "A ROMANTIC LAND". Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929). 15 February 1911. p. 8. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
7. Wiebkin, 2011, pages 14 & 39
8. "KNOW FLINDERS' ISLAND? WE'LL TELL YOU ABOUT IT". The Wooroora Producer. 12 July 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
9. Flinders, 1814 (1966), pages 223
10. Kostoglou, Parry; McCarthy, Justin (1991). Whaling and sealing sites in South Australia (First ed.). Fremantle, WA: Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. pp. 51–6.
11. "Flinders Island Whaling & Sealing Site". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
12. "INVESTIGATOR MARINE PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN 2012" (PDF). Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Government of South Australia. 2012. pp. 5 and Appendix 1. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
13. DEH, 2006, page 12
14. BirdLife International, 2015
15. "CAPAD 2012 South Australia Summary (see 'DETAIL' tab)". CAPAD 2012. Australian Government - Department of the Environment. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

References

• South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors (DMH) (1985), The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs, Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia, ISBN 978-0-7243-7603-2
• Anon (2006). Island Parks of Western Eyre Peninsula Management Plan (PDF). Adelaide: Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH), South Australia. ISBN 1-921238-18-6.
• Robinson, A. C.; Canty, P.; Mooney, T.; Rudduck, P. (1996). "South Australia's offshore islands" (PDF). Australian Heritage Commission. ISBN 978-0-644-35011-2. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
• "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Investigator Islands (sic)". BirdLife International. 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
• Flinders, Matthew (1966) [1814]. A Voyage to Terra Australis : undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner; with an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island (Facsimile ed.). Adelaide; Facsimile reprint of: London : G. and W. Nicol, 1814 ed. In two volumes, with an Atlas (3 volumes): Libraries Board of South Australia. Retrieved 5 January 2014.CS1 maint: location (link)
• Wiebkin, Annelise (2011), Conservation management priorities for little penguin populations in Gulf St Vincent. Report to Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board SARDI Publication No. F2011/000188-1. SARDI Research Report Series No.588 (PDF), South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences)