The Gambier Islands are a small group of islands lying between the southern tips of the Eyre and

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Str ...

s at the entrance to Spencer Gulf in

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 ...

. The islands lie within the 120 km²

Gambier Islands Group Marine Park __NOTOC__ Gambier Islands Group Marine Park is a marine protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in state coastal waters around the Gambier Islands at the mouth of Spencer Gulf. The marine park was established on 29 Ja ...

Description

By far the largest island in the group, at about 10 km² in area, is Wedge Island. The others are North Island, South West Rock and Peaked Rocks. Except for Wedge Island, the group constitutes the

Gambier Islands Conservation Park Gambier Islands Conservation Park is a protected area associated with the Gambier Islands Group which is located in the middle of the mouth of Spencer Gulf in South Australia about south east of Port Lincoln. The conservation park consists of ...

. Wedge Island is partly crown land and partly privately owned; it was used for farming for 130 years following European settlement of the region, and holds several buildings, mainly used as tourist accommodation, an

airstrip An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

and a lighthouse. The waters around the islands are extensively used for

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing fo ...

and for

recreational diving Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of ...

Wildlife

Australian sea lions breed on the islands, and

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 may haul out there.

Seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s for which the islands are important include little penguins, short-tailed shearwaters and

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 ...

s. Other birds recorded there include

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 ...

bush stone-curlew The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee, also known as the Iben bird (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, whe ...

s, peregrine falcons,

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s and

white-bellied sea eagle The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related t ...

s. In 1869, the islands were known to support gulls, gannets, terns, penguins, muttonbirds and other seabirds. An etching showing a rocky feature of one of the islands and a flock of shearwaters in flight was published in the ''

Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers ''The Illustrated Australian News'' was a monthly news magazine of record in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its precursor ''Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers'' was first published in 1837 by Ebenezer Syme and David Syme. The title w ...

'' in 1869. A 1986 account of North Island described a population of "thousands" of muttonbirds and penguins there.

References

Islands of South Australia Spencer Gulf {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub