Dorothee Island
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Dorothee Island (french: Ile Dorothee) is an
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
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 ...
which is part of the
Pearson Isles Pearson Isles (also called the Pearson Islands, Pearson Group and Pearson Archipelago) is an island group located in the Australian state of South Australia about to west south-west of Cape Finniss on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula wit ...
which itself is part of the larger island grouping known as the
Investigator Group The Investigator Group is an archipelago in South Australia that consists of Flinders Island and five island groups located off the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It is named after by her commander, Matthew Flinders when he explore ...
. It is located about west south-west of Cape Finniss on the west coast of
Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...
. It was discovered as part of the Pearson Isles by Matthew Flinders on 13 February 1802. The island was given its name in August 1969 in order to preserve a name used within the locality by the Baudin expedition. The island has enjoyed protected area status since at least 1972 and since 2011, it been part of the Investigator Group Wilderness Protection Area.


Description

Dorothee Island is located about south of Pearson Island and about west-southwest of Cape Finniss on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is part of the island group known as the Pearson Isles. The island has an area of about . The island has undergone extensive erosion with the result that a large crevasse bisects the island in the east-west direction, forming a pair of peaks. The north side reaches a height of while the south side reaches a height of . The top of both peaks each “retains some pockets of soil, predominantly coarse and granitic but with small patches of calcareous sandy loam”. The island’s east coast is reported in 1996 as providing “enough shelter to allow a cautious landing in all but severe swells”.RAN, 1979


Formation, geology and oceanography

Dorothee Island was formed along with the rest of the Pearson Isles about 10,500 years ago following the rise of sea levels at the start of the
Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
. Geologically, Dorothee Island and the other parts of the Pearson Isles are the summits of an
inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
partially concealed by sea level rise.Robinson et al, 1996, page 196 Dorothee Island’s southern and western sides fall to water depths greater than within from its shoreline.


Flora and fauna


Flora

As of 1996, Dorothee Island retained significant soil around its twin peaks and shelter to support the following five
plant associations A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant co ...
which are informed by the specific characteristics of the soil and the associated exposure to the elements.Robinson et al, 1996, pages 481-482 The deepest and the most sheltered granitic soils are vegetated by a
heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...
dominated by twiggy daisy-bush followed by other heath species such as common correa, black-anther flax lily and coast beard-heath as well as two small patches of Cape Leeuwin wattle. A “
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
y loam” associated with the central crevasse on the northern half of the island supports a grey saltbush heath. The granitic soils associated with the island’s southern peak support a shrubland of
marsh saltbush ''Atriplex paludosa'', commonly known as marsh saltbush, is a species of saltbush endemic to Australia. Description It grows as an erect shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, one to four centimetres long, and 2 to 15 millimetres wi ...
that forms a perimeter around the twiggy daisy-bush confined to the peak. The thinnest soils support herbfields dominated by rosy stork's bill. Soils at top of the granite ridges closest to the sea are occupied by herblands of round-leaved pigface.


Fauna

Vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...
animals observed on the island include mammals, birds and reptiles. As of 1980 and 1990, mammals are represented by
New Zealand fur seal ''Arctocephalus forsteri'' (common names include the Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, or long-nosed fur seal) is a species of fur seal found mainly around southern Australia and New Z ...
s and Australian sea lions who use the island as a haul-out site. Observations of both species published in 2014 advise that only fur seals have been using the island in the recent past as a breeding colony.Robinson et al, 1996, pages 383 As of 2006, birds were represented by the following species:
Nankeen kestrel The nankeen kestrel (''Falco cenchroides''), also known as the Australian kestrel, is a raptor native to Australia and New Guinea. It is one of the smallest falcons, and unlike many, does not rely on speed to catch its prey. Instead, it simply pe ...
,
Australian raven The Australian raven (''Corvus coronoides'') is a passerine bird in the genus '' Corvus'' native to much of southern and northeastern Australia. Measuring in length, it has all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong grey-black legs an ...
, barn owl, black cormorant, Cape Barren geese, common starling, crested tern, fork-tailed swift, house sparrow, masked lapwing,
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 ...
, rock parrot,
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 ...
, short-tailed shearwater,
silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis'') is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all membe ...
,
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 ...
,
welcome swallow The welcome swallow (''Hirundo neoxena'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It is a species native to Australia and nearby islands, and self-introduced into New Zealand in the middle of the twentieth century. It is very similar ...
,
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, Ind ...
,
white-faced storm petrel The white-faced storm petrel (''Pelagodroma marina''), also known as white-faced petrel is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Pelagodroma''. Description The white-faced ...
and breeding populations of the following species: little penguin,
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 ...
,
white-faced storm petrel The white-faced storm petrel (''Pelagodroma marina''), also known as white-faced petrel is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Pelagodroma''. Description The white-faced ...
and short-tailed shearwater. As of 2006, reptiles were represented by the following species: peninsula dragon and four-toed earless skink.


History


European discovery

Dorothee Island is part of the island group which was first sighted by Matthew Flinders on Saturday, 13 February 1802 and who subsequently named the group as the Pearson Isles on the same day.


Scientific research

Dorothee Island is one of a number of islands in South Australia where specifically marked locations known as “photopoints” have been established for photographing vegetation at periodic intervals in order to identify changes occurring in the absence of a permanent human presence or introduced pests such as rabbits.


Nomenclature

The island was officially named as Dorothee Island, being the anglicised version of “Ile Dorothee”, in August 1969 by 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 ...
in response to the following recommendation made by the Nomenclature Committee in 1965 within the then Department of Lands:RSSA, 1971, page 121
The Committee recommends the adoption of the names " Veteran Isles" for the two small islands in the Pearson Islands and "Dorothee Island" for the southernmost island in this group. It is with some reservations that the Committee makes this recommendation as these names were first used on the chart of Captain Baudin's voyage prepared by F Peron and L de Freycinet and difficulty is experienced in relating islands shown in this chart to present day Admiralty Charts but as these names do not appear on modern charts this recommendation is a means of perpetuating them in the general area of the first use'.


Protected areas status

Dorothee Island is first mentioned as specifically receiving protected area status in 1972 as part of the Investigator Group Conservation Park proclaimed 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 ...
'' for the purpose of protecting “delicate island ecology and Australian sea lion and New Zealand fur seal haul-out areas”. On 25 August 2011, it was one of the islands excised from the Investigator Group Conservation Park to form the Investigator Group Wilderness Protection Area.Robinson et al, 1996, page 145DEH, 2006, page 6WAC, 2013, pages 16-17 Since 2012, the waters adjoining Dorothee Island have been part of a sanctuary zone in the Investigator Marine Park.DEWNR, 2012, page 22 of 26


See also

*
List of islands of Australia This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders. Largest islands The islands larger than are: * Tasmania (Tas) ; * Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT ...
*
List of little penguin colonies This is a list of little penguin colonies notable for their size, location or public profile. It is not exhaustive. Some little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') colonies are particularly large, well-known, or are tourist attractions; even small col ...
* Investigator Islands Important Bird Area


Citations and references


Citations


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorothee Island Islands of South Australia Uninhabited islands of Australia Great Australian Bight