Passage Island
Passage Island on the bottom right;
with Forsyth Island, centre.
Passage Island is located in Tasmania
Passage Island
Passage Island
Location of the Passage Island in Bass Strait
Geography
LocationBass Strait
Coordinates40°29′24″S 148°19′48″E / 40.49000°S 148.33000°E / -40.49000; 148.33000
ArchipelagoPassage Group, part of the Furneaux Group
Area253 ha (630 acres)
Administration
Australia
StateTasmania

The Passage Island, part of the Passage Group within the Furneaux Group, is a 253-hectare (630-acre) granite and dolerite island, located in Bass Strait south of Cape Barren Island, in Tasmania, in south-eastern Australia.[1][2]

History

Large numbers of fur seals were seen on the island in 1798 by Matthew Flinders and sealers were later reported visiting the island early in the 19th century.[3]

The island is a private island with leasehold tenure,[4] with a pastoral lease that has been used for grazing cattle.[5] Improvements on the island include airstrips and a small residence.[4] With the Forsyth and Gull islands, the Passage Island forms part of the Forsyth, Passage and Gull Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports over 1% of the world populations of little penguins and black-faced cormorants.[6]

Besides Passage Island, other islands that comprise the Passage Group include the Forsyth, Gull, Battery, and Spike islands, and the Low Islets and the Moriarty Rocks.

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird, wader and waterbird species include little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, Pacific gull, silver gull, sooty oystercatcher and Cape Barren goose. Apart from cattle, mammals present are the introduced European rabbit, house mouse and a species of rat. Reptiles present include White's skink and the metallic skink.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Passage Island (TAS)". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  2. ↑ "Small Bass Strait Island Reserves. Draft Management Plan". Department of Primary Industries,Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government. October 2000. Archived from the original on 30 March 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  3. ↑ Kostoglou, Parry (1996). Sealing in Tasmania. Hobart: Parks and Wildlife Service. pp. 99–100.
  4. 1 2 "Passage Island Flinders Island: A Rarely Offered 242ha Leasehold Island". realestate.com.au. REA Group Ltd. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  5. 1 2 Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X
  6. ↑ "IBA: Forsyth, Passage and Gull Islands". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 22 June 2011.


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