Nuyts Archipelago

The Nuyts Archipelago, including the Isles of St Francis, comprises a group of mainly small and mostly granitic islands lying off Ceduna, South Australia, at the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight and the north-western coast of the Eyre Peninsula. Many of the islands support extensive colonies of Short-tailed Shearwaters, or muttonbirds, while its smaller islets and reefs provide breeding sites for Australian Sea Lions.

Contents

History

The archipelago was named in 1802 by Matthew Flinders after Dutch diplomat Pieter Nuyts, who was the senior official of the Dutch East India Company on the ship ′t Gulden Zeepaerdt ("The Golden Seahorse"), captained by François Thijssen who mapped the southern coastline of Australia from Albany to Ceduna in the course of a 1626–27 voyage from the Netherlands to Formosa and Japan. Nuyts was in the region of the archipelago in January 1627. Both Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, who also explored the area in 1802, named several of the islands.[1]

During the early 19th Century the archipelago and adjacent coast were used as a base for sealing and for whaling, usually by Hobart-based entrepreneurs who established whaling stations on St Peter Island as well as at Fowlers Bay and Streaky Bay.[2]

Description

Of the roughly 30 islands and reefs in the archipelago, those lying furthest from the coast of the Eyre Perninsula are known as the Isles of St Francis, after the largest. Most of the islands are formed of calcarenite lying on granite; where the softer calcarenite is close to sea level it has been heavily eroded by wave action. With the exception of Evans Island, the islands of the archipelago lie within either the Isles of St Francis or the Nuyts Archipelago Conservation Parks, both of which were constituted by statute in 1972 to conserve island populations and habitat for endangered species.[1]

The waters of the archipelago and the adjoining bays of the mainland are protected by the 4000 km2 Nuyts Archipelago Marine Park. The area is biologically unique in South Australia due to the influence of the Leeuwin Current, flowing eastwards across the Great Australian Bight and bringing features more typical of western than south-eastern Australia. In and around the archipelago the subtropical Leeuwin Current meets and mixes with the colder waters of the Flinders Current creating a biodiversity hotspot. Examples of the effect of the Leeuwin Current include the presence of plate corals and fish such as the Western Footballer.[3]

Islands

Isles of St Francis Conservation Park
Evans Island
Nuyts Archipelago Conservation Park

Important Bird Area

The archipelago, with the exception of Hart Island, has been identified by BirdLife International as a 110 km2 Important Bird Area (IBA) because it contains over 1% of the world populations of Short-tailed Shearwaters (with an estimated maximum of 890,740 breeding pairs), White-faced Storm-Petrels (22,750 breeding pairs) and Pied Oystercatchers (about 250 individuals).[6] Other birds nesting in the IBA include Little Penguins (over 1000 pairs), Pacific Gulls (about eight pairs), Caspian Terns (about 250 pairs) and Crested Terns (at least 3000 pairs), as well as Eastern Reef Egrets, Ospreys, White-bellied Sea Eagles and Hooded Plovers. Rock Parrots occur on Lounds Island and probably Smooth Island.[4]

Other animals

Tiger Snakes and Southern Carpet Pythons occur in the archipelago. Greater Stick-nest Rats are found on the Franklin Islands. An isolated subspecies of the Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus nauticus) is endemic to the archipelago and confined to St Francis and the Franklin Islands. An unsuccessful attempt was made to reestablish a colony of Brush-tailed Bettongs on St Francis Island, where the species had previously become extinct; a similar introduction to St Peter Island has been more successful.[1][4] The archipelago is important for Australian Sea Lions; it contains eight breeding colonies as well as several haul-out sites.[5] Southern Fur Seals also use haul-out sites in the archipelago, while Southern Right Whales migrate along the coast from May to October.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Anon (2006). Island Parks of Western Eyre Peninsula Management Plan. Adelaide: Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia. ISBN 1 921238 18 6. http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/570dd7a4-2986-4563-ae90-9e4f00b22af4/WESTEYRE_IP.pdf. 
  2. ^ O’Reilly, Rebecca. "St Peters Island". The Archaeology of Whaling in Southern Australia and New Zealand. Flinders University. http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/archaeology/department/research/projects/awsanz/sStPeters.html. 
  3. ^ "Nuyts Archipelago Marine Park". Marine Park 2. South Australian Government. http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/4bacd1f5-0745-4049-9b17-9e3600979ae4/MP_Park_Description_2.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-10. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Nuyts Archipelago. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 05/09/2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Goldsworthy, S.D.; Page, B.; Lowther, A.; Shaughnessy, P.D.; Peters, K.P.; Rogers, P.; McKenzie, J.; & Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2009). Developing population protocols to determine the abundance of Australian sea lions at key subpopulations in South Australia. SARDI Research Report No.348. Adelaide: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, South Australia. http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/116268/No_348_Developing_population_protocols_AMMC_ASL_population_monitoring_2008.pdf. 
  6. ^ "IBA: Nuyts Archipelago". Birdata. Birds Australia. http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  7. ^ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (2010), Environmental, Economic and Social Values of the Nuyts Archipelago Marine Park, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, South Australia.
Cities
Townships
National parks
Islands
Councils