Location Bass Strait State Tasmania | Area 1,576 ha (3,890 acres) Archipelago Kent Group | |
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The Deal Island, the largest island of the Kent Group, is a 1,576-hectare (3,890-acre) granite island, located in northern Bass Strait, that lies between the Furneaux Group, north-east of Tasmania and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia.
Contents
Map of Deal Island, Tasmania 7255, Australia
Location and features
The island is contained entirely within the 2,374-hectare (5,870-acre) Kent Group National Park, Tasmania’s northernmost national park, 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, encapsulating 29,000 hectares (72,000 acres) of marine reserve.
The Deal Island is located at the southern end of the 292,800-hectare (724,000-acre) Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve, that encloses the Kent Group Marine Reserve and the Hogan and Curtis Island groups.
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.
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. 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.
On 26 April 1943 during World War II an RAAF A25 Airspeed Oxford aircraft crashed killing all four crewmen. The aircraft wreck and their graves are about 15 metres (49 ft) apart at the bottom of the cliff. The bodies have since been disinterred and buried at Springvale, Victoria. 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.