Deal Island (Tasmania)
Deal Island is a granite island, with an area of 1576.75 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is the largest of Tasmania’s Kent Group, lying in northern Bass Strait between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria. It is now part of the Kent Group National Park, Tasmania’s northernmost national park, which was gazetted in 2002. In 2004 the national park was extended to include the state waters of the three major islands of the Kent Group marine waters.[1]
The Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve, the Kent Group, is located at the southern end of the Commonwealth reserve.[2]
Deal Island has been extensively modified in the past by human activity in the construction of facilities and the vegetation clearance and regular firing associated with grazing livestock. It has a lighthouse, airstrip (closed), roads, jetty, two houses, a dam and a museum.[3]
Climate
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °C (°F) | 35.8 (96.4) |
32.8 (91.0) |
31.3 (88.3) |
25.5 (77.9) |
23.2 (73.8) |
18.2 (64.8) |
17.2 (63.0) |
20.4 (68.7) |
24.9 (76.8) |
26.0 (78.8) |
33.6 (92.5) |
30.2 (86.4) |
35.8 (96.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 20.2 (68.4) |
20.5 (68.9) |
19.4 (66.9) |
17.6 (63.7) |
15.6 (60.1) |
13.5 (56.3) |
12.7 (54.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
13.7 (56.7) |
15.4 (59.7) |
16.8 (62.2) |
18.3 (64.9) |
16.4 (61.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.1 (57.4) |
14.6 (58.3) |
14.2 (57.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
11.5 (52.7) |
9.7 (49.5) |
8.5 (47.3) |
8.2 (46.8) |
8.9 (48.0) |
9.8 (49.6) |
11.2 (52.2) |
12.6 (54.7) |
11.3 (52.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 4.9 (40.8) |
8.0 (46.4) |
3.8 (38.8) |
3.3 (37.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
5.0 (41.0) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
2.5 (36.5) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 40.7 (1.60) |
38.7 (1.52) |
52.3 (2.06) |
61.1 (2.41) |
73.6 (2.90) |
78.5 (3.09) |
78.5 (3.09) |
73.3 (2.89) |
61.4 (2.42) |
60.8 (2.39) |
50.8 (2.00) |
49.6 (1.95) |
718.8 (28.30) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 8.2 | 7.4 | 9.7 | 12.4 | 14.8 | 16.0 | 16.9 | 16.4 | 14.5 | 13.3 | 11.5 | 10.0 | 151.1 |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology [4] | |||||||||||||
Lighthouse
Deal Island has the highest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere, standing 305 metres (1,001 ft) above sea level and was sometimes visible at night from Wilson's Promontory, 80 kilometres (50 mi) away.[citation needed] The lighthouse was built in 1848 and deactivated in 1992. While active, the height caused problems with visibility in low cloud conditions. Management and conservation is under the control of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service.[5] On 26 April 1943 during world war two an RAAF A25 Airspeed Oxford aircraft crashed killing all four crewmen. The aircraft wreck and their graves are about 15 metres apart at the bottom of the cliff. The bodies have since been disinterred and buried at Springvale, Victoria. [6] Eyewitness accounts say the plane flew low over a ship which was actually a wreck, and then failed to regain enough height before hitting the cliff.
Fauna
Recorded breeding seabird and wader species include little penguin, Pacific gull, and sooty oystercatcher. Mammals found on the island are the red-necked wallaby, common brushtail possum, southern brown bandicoot, fur seals and the introduced European rabbit. Reptiles present include the metallic skink, Bougainville's skink, White's skink and the white-lipped snake.[3]
References
- ^ http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/marine/kent/kent.html
- ^ http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/southeast/beagle/index.html
- ^ a b 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
- ^ "Climate Statistics for Deal Island". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ^ "Deal Island lighthouse". Lighthouses of Tasmania. Lighthouses of Australia Inc.
- ^ "Picking up the wrecked pieces". The Age Online. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
39°28′39″S 147°20′20″E / 39.47750°S 147.33889°E
