Kent Group

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Kent Group National Park
Tasmania
IUCN category II (national park)
Kent Group National Park is located in Tasmania
Kent Group National Park
Kent Group National Park
Nearest town or city Launceston
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Established 1947
Area 165 km2 (63.7 sq mi)
Visitation 25,000 (in 1998)
Managing authorities Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
Website Kent Group National Park
See also Protected areas of Tasmania

The Kent Group of Islands lies in Bass Strait, Australia, north-west of the Furneaux Group near Tasmania. They form the Kent Group National Park.[1]

The granite islands were named Kent's Group by Matthew Flinders, "in honour of my friend captain William Kent, then commander of the Supply" when Flinders passed them on 8 February 1798 in the Francis (on her way to salvage the Sydney Cove).[2] The largest island in the group is Deal Island; the others, in order of descending size, are Erith Island, Dover Island, North East Isle, South West Isle and Judgement Rocks.

Shipwrecks

Murray Pass, named for the explorer John Murray, between Deal and Erith Islands has long been used by ships to shelter from gales in Bass Strait, but it is a dangerous, partly open, roadstead, and many ships have been wrecked after sudden changes in wind direction and speed. Others have hit the island either while attempting to shelter or through poor navigation in darkness or bad weather, several with heavy loss of life. They include:[3]

  • 1816, Brothers, schooner, 40 tons, Captain William Hovell, one life lost.
  • 1819, Daphne, brig, 151 tons, Captain John Howard, no lives lost.
  • 1819, John Palmer, schooner, 37 tons, Captain Bastian, two lives lost (one ex Daphne)
  • 1831, Ionia, snow, 226 tons, Captain Buck.  ?Three lives lost.
  • 1850, Ida, schooner, 50 tons, no loss of life.
  • 1851, White Squall, schooner, 104 tons, Captain Chattock, no loss of life.
  • 1852, Dorset, brig, 82 tons, Captain Birdwood, no loss of life.
  • 1852, Mary, brig, 308 tons, no loss of life.
  • 1855, Elizabeth Mason, schooner, 79 tons, Captain McIntyre, no loss of life.
  • 1856, Kendall, schooner, 157 tons, Captain Read, no lives lost.
  • 1862, Reindeer, schooner, 104 tons, Captain Morris, all hands (about 8) lost.
  • 1863, General Jessup, barque, 193 tons, Captain Hodge, no loss of life.
  • 1866, Boscarne, schooner, 63 tons, Captain Black, no loss of life.
  • 1875, Essie Black, barque, 281 tons, Captain Sivier, all hands (about 10) lost.
  • 1877, Bulli, iron steamship, 524 tons, Captain Randell, no loss of life (a popular dive wreck).
  • 1921, Karitane, steel steamship, 1376 tons, Captain Spain, no loss of life.
  • 1930, Ida N, new fishing boat, 25 tons, Captain Busk, no lives lost.
  • 1961, St Nicholas, newly completed fish carrier, 45 tons, no loss of life.
File:Kent Group map.png
map of vegetation on Kent Group main Islands

See also

References

  1. Kent Group National Park page at the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., entry for 8 February 1798
  3. Broxam & Nash, Tasmanian Shipwrecks, Volumes 1 and 2, Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1998 and 2000, ISBN 0-9586561-5-0 and ISBN 0-9586561-6-9

External links