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Nuyts Archipelago
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Nuyts Archipelago
The Nuyts Archipelago is an island group in South Australia in the Great Australian Bight, to the south of the town of Ceduna on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It consists of mostly granitic islands and reefs that provide breeding sites for Australian sea lions and support colonies of short-tailed shearwater. It also includes the island group known as the Isles of St Francis. All the islands, with the exception of a part of Evans Island, are located within the protected areas of the Nuyts Archipelago Wilderness Protection Area and the Nuyts Archipelago Conservation Park.
Of the roughly 30 islands and reefs in the archipelago, those lying furthest from the coast of the Eyre Peninsula are 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.
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.
Prior to the last ice age, approximately 9,800 years ago, the islands formed part of the mainland coastline.
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 Zeepaert ("The Golden Seahorse"), captained by François Thijssen who mapped 1800km of 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. The remote and desolate islands were later arguably also used as a source in the 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels. Both Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, who also explored the area in 1802-1803, named several of the islands.
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. Early interactions by sealers with the mainland native people were usually hostile. Later, the islands were privately purchased in 1925 and used for farming and sheep grazing.
St Francis Island was named in 1627 by Thijssen after his patron saint, at 809 hectares (2,000 acres) it is the second largest island in the archipelago. It is covered by a mix of grassland, saltbush and low shrubland and supports a large population of muttonbirds (estimated at 273,000 pairs). The highest point, 81 metres (266 feet) above sea level, carries an automated lighthouse and radio beacon. It has a long history of agricultural use as well as of guano mining.
Masillon Island is located about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) south of St Francis, it was named in 1802 in the course of Baudin’s expedition after a Bishop of Clermont, Jean Baptiste Massillon. It is vegetated with heathy shrubland and saltbush, and supports muttonbirds (39,520 pairs).
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Nuyts Archipelago
The Nuyts Archipelago is an island group in South Australia in the Great Australian Bight, to the south of the town of Ceduna on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It consists of mostly granitic islands and reefs that provide breeding sites for Australian sea lions and support colonies of short-tailed shearwater. It also includes the island group known as the Isles of St Francis. All the islands, with the exception of a part of Evans Island, are located within the protected areas of the Nuyts Archipelago Wilderness Protection Area and the Nuyts Archipelago Conservation Park.
Of the roughly 30 islands and reefs in the archipelago, those lying furthest from the coast of the Eyre Peninsula are 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.
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.
Prior to the last ice age, approximately 9,800 years ago, the islands formed part of the mainland coastline.
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 Zeepaert ("The Golden Seahorse"), captained by François Thijssen who mapped 1800km of 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. The remote and desolate islands were later arguably also used as a source in the 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels. Both Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, who also explored the area in 1802-1803, named several of the islands.
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. Early interactions by sealers with the mainland native people were usually hostile. Later, the islands were privately purchased in 1925 and used for farming and sheep grazing.
St Francis Island was named in 1627 by Thijssen after his patron saint, at 809 hectares (2,000 acres) it is the second largest island in the archipelago. It is covered by a mix of grassland, saltbush and low shrubland and supports a large population of muttonbirds (estimated at 273,000 pairs). The highest point, 81 metres (266 feet) above sea level, carries an automated lighthouse and radio beacon. It has a long history of agricultural use as well as of guano mining.
Masillon Island is located about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) south of St Francis, it was named in 1802 in the course of Baudin’s expedition after a Bishop of Clermont, Jean Baptiste Massillon. It is vegetated with heathy shrubland and saltbush, and supports muttonbirds (39,520 pairs).
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