  Gambier Islands | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Spencer Gulf |
| Administration | |
| Australia | |
The Gambier Islands are a small group of islands lying between the southern tips of the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas at the entrance to Spencer Gulf in South Australia. The islands lie within the 120 km Gambier Islands Group Marine Park.
Description
By far the largest island in the group, at about 10 km in area, is Wedge Island. The others are North Island, South West Rock and Peaked Rocks. Except for Wedge Island, the group constitutes the Gambier Islands Conservation Park. Wedge Island is partly crown land and partly privately owned; it was used for farming for 130 years following European settlement of the region, and holds several buildings, mainly used as tourist accommodation, an airstrip, pier and a lighthouse. The waters around the islands are extensively used for commercial and recreational fishing and for recreational diving.
Wildlife
Australian sea lions breed on the islands, and New Zealand fur seals may haul out there. Seabirds for which the islands are important include little penguins, short-tailed shearwaters and white-faced storm petrels. Other birds recorded there include rock parrots, bush stone-curlews, peregrine falcons, ospreys and white-bellied sea eagles. In 1869, the islands were known to support gulls, gannets, terns, penguins, muttonbirds and other seabirds. An etching showing a rocky feature of one of the islands and a flock of shearwaters in flight was published in the Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers in 1869.
A 1986 account of North Island described a population of "thousands" of muttonbirds and penguins there.
References
- ^ "Gambier Islands Group Marine Park" (PDF). Marine Park 8. Government of South Australia. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (2010). Environmental, Economic and Social Values of the Gambier Islands Group Marine Park. (Department of Environment and Natural Resources, South Australia).
- "Spencer's Gulf, South Australia". Illustrated Adelaide Post. 16 July 1869. p. 13. Retrieved 18 June 2020 – via Trove.
- "Spencer's Gulf, South Australia —flight of the mutton birds off Gambier Island". Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers. 10 July 1869. p. 137. Retrieved 18 June 2020 – via Trove.
- Scarce, Graham (1986). A Cruising Guide to Historic Gulf Ports - Volume 3 - Spencer Gulf. South Australia: Kingsley Publications. p. 12. ISBN 0-9589703-4-3.
| Islands of South Australia | |||||||||
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| West coast of Eyre Peninsula |
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| Spencer Gulf |
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| Investigator Strait | |||||||||
| Kangaroo Island |
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| Gulf St Vincent | |||||||||
| Backstairs Passage | |||||||||
| Encounter Bay and adjoining waters | |||||||||
| South east coast | |||||||||
| Mainland |
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35°09′S 136°28′E / 35.150°S 136.467°E / -35.150; 136.467
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