Busby Islet (also known as Bushy Island and Anchorage Island) is an

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

located in

Nepean Bay Nepean Bay is a bay located on the north-east coast of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia about south-south-west of Adelaide. It was named by the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, after Sir Evan Nepean on 21 March 1 ...

on the north coast of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

about north of the municipal seat of Kingscote. The islet and adjoining areas are notable as habitat for bird life. The islet has enjoyed

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

status since 1909 and since at least 1972, have been part of the Busby Islet Conservation Park.

Description

Busby Islet is an islet located in Nepean Bay about east of Kingscote on Kangaroo Island in South Australia.DMH, 1985, Charts 11 & 12NPWS, 1987, page 27 Busby Islet along with the Beatrice Islets are three high points on the southern edge of a spit that is exposed at low water. The spit which is named ‘The Spit’ extends from Cape Rouge about north of Kingscote in a south easterly direction across the opening of the

Bay of Shoals Nepean Bay is a bay located on the north-east coast of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia about south-south-west of Adelaide. It was named by the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, after Sir Evan Nepean on 21 March 1 ...

for a distance of about . Busby Islet covers an area of about and as of 1996 had a maximum elevation of .

Formation, geology and oceanography

The conditions for the creation of The Spit and therefore Busby Islet and the

Beatrice Islets Beatrice Islets are pair of islets in the Australian state of South Australia located in Nepean Bay on the north coast of Kangaroo Island about east of Kingscote. The islets and adjoining intertidal areas are notable as habitat for bird li ...

became possible about 7500 years ago when sea levels reached current levels. The islet is composed of sand and sandgrit, which has formed into 'low dunes' at the islet's summit. The islet is part of a drying spit at low water which falls to a depth of within about to the south.

Flora and fauna

Flora

As of 1996, Busby Islet was reported as supporting a ‘low shrubland of highly salt-tolerant succulents such as grey samphire,

glasswort The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus ''Salicornia'', but today the glass ...

s and

Austral seablite ''Suaeda australis'', the austral seablite, is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to Australia. It grows to in height, with a spreading habit and branching occurring from the base. The leaves are up to 40 mm in length ...

’ while the summit of the island supports ‘marginally less salt tolerant nitre bush and

African boxthorn ''Lycium ferocissimum'', the African boxthorn or boxthorn, is a shrub in the nightshade family ( Solanaceae). The species is native to the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Free State provinces in South Africa and has become naturalised in Aus ...

.’

Fauna

Sources dated 1987 and 1996 suggest that bird species are the dominant fauna. As of 1980 and 1981, the following bird species were observed on Busby Islet:

Australian pelican The Australian pelican (''Pelecanus conspicillatus'') is a large waterbird in the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It ...

, black-faced shag,

little pied cormorant The little pied cormorant, little shag or kawaupaka (''Microcarbo melanoleucos'') is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapo ...

little black cormorant The little black cormorant (''Phalacrocorax sulcirostris'') is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It is common in smaller rivers and lakes throughout most areas of Australia and northern New Zealand, where it is known as the little bl ...

pied cormorant The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it ...

white-faced heron The white-faced heron (''Egretta novaehollandiae'') also known as the white-fronted heron, and incorrectly as the grey heron, or blue crane, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indo ...

sacred ibis The African sacred ibis (''Threskiornis aethiopicus'') is a species of ibis, a wading bird of the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to much of Africa, as well as small parts of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. It is especially known for its role in ...

chestnut teal The chestnut teal (''Anas castanea'') is a dabbling duck found in Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Taxonomy The chestnut teal was described by the English naturalist Thomas Campbell Eyton in 1838 under ...

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

brown falcon The brown falcon (''Falco berigora'') is a relatively large falcon native to Australia and New Guinea. A number of plumage morphs occur, with the primary distinction being between the pale morph and the dark morph. Both morphs usually have dark ...

grey plover The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was forma ...

pied oystercatcher The pied oystercatcher (''Haematopus longirostris'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island pied oystercatcher (''H. finschi'') occurs in New Zealand. ...

sooty oystercatcher The sooty oystercatcher (''Haematopus fuliginosus'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird endemic to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. It prefers rocky coastlines, but will occasionally live in estuaries. All of its fea ...

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plov ...

silver gull The silver gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae'') is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus''), which ...

pacific gull The Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus'') is a very large gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a re ...

caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

fairy tern The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as " Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is " Critically Endangered". There are three subspecies: * Australian f ...

crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World ...

sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') (but see below) is a small wader. Taxonomy A review of data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus ''Philomachus'' – as ''P. acuminatus'' – which now ...

red-necked stint The red-necked stint (''Calidris ruficollis'') is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ruficollis'' is from La ...

curlew sandpiper The curlew sandpiper (''Calidris ferruginea'') is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australia and New Zealand. It is a va ...

eastern curlew The Far Eastern curlew (''Numenius madagascariensis'') is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown ...

, whimbrel,

greenshank The common greenshank (''Tringa nebularia'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'' ...

rock parrot The rock parrot (''Neophema petrophila'') is a species of grass parrot native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1841, it is a small parrot long and weighing with predominantly olive-brown upperparts and more yellowish underparts. Its h ...

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

and

little grassbird The little grassbird (''Poodytes gramineus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in Australia and in West Papua, Indonesia. These sexually monomorphic birds are found in reed beds, rushes, lignum swamps an ...

Little penguins

Historically,

little penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is a species of penguin from New Zealand. They are commonly known as little blue penguins or blue penguins owing to their slate-blue plumage and are also known by their Māori name . The Australian lit ...

s could be found in burrows in the vicinity of Busby Islet and its adjacent sandbanks. The species was not listed in the bird list published in the management plan for the Busby Islet Conservation Park, which was collated during surveys in 1980 and 1981. As of 2011, this colony is believed to be extinct.

History

European discovery and use

Busby Islet is reported as being originally named by

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

as Bushy Island. However, it is reported that a possible spelling error has resulted in Busby Island being the official name since at least 1869. The name Anchorage Island has also been used for the islet. The name Bushy Island is still used on

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

and within American sources. Busby Islet is one of the island sites from which

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

was mined under licence from the

South Australian Government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

prior to 1919.

Protected areas status

Busby Islet first received

status on 13 May 1909 under the ''Birds Protection Act 1900''. The islets were subsequently proclaimed as a fauna reserve under the ''Fauna Conservation Act 1964'', dedicated again in 1967 ‘for the conservation of wildlife habitat’ and then as a conservation park under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...

'' in 1972. 16 March 1967 As of 2012, the waters adjoining the islet is within a sanctuary zone within the

Encounter Marine Park Encounter Marine Park is a marine park in South Australia. It is in the Fleurieu Peninsula in state of South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the m ...

. Accordingly, as of October 2014, the islet has been a 'no entry' area as part of the marine park's regulatory regime. Busby Islet is also part of a larger area that includes the extent of The Spit within Nepean Bay including the Beatrice Islets and which was included in a non-statutory listing of nationally important wetlands located in South Australia as part of ''

A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA) is a list of wetlands of national importance to Australia published by the governmental agency Environment Australia. Intended to augment the list of wetlands of international importance under th ...

''.Eyles et al, 2001, page 77

Citations and references

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Busby Islet Islands of South Australia Uninhabited islands of Australia Kangaroo Island