Flinders Island (South Australia)

Flinders Island

Flinders Island
Geography
Location	Great Australian Bight
Coordinates	33°42′49″S 134°29′49″E / 33.71367°S 134.49686°E / -33.71367; 134.49686Coordinates: 33°42′49″S 134°29′49″E / 33.71367°S 134.49686°E / -33.71367; 134.49686
Area	3,642 ha (9,000 acres)[1]
Highest elevation	66 m (217 ft)[2]
Administration
Australia

Flinders Island is an island in the Investigator Group off the coast of South Australia. 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.

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.^[4] 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."^[5]

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.^[6]

The Flinders Island Whaling and Sealing Site is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.^[7]

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).^[8][9][10]

Non-statutory arrangements

Flinders Island is one of the islands included in the Investigator Islands Important Bird Area (sic) identified by BirdLife International.^[9]

Citations and references

Citations

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. 
• 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)