Spilsby Island
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Spilsby Island is one of the largest islands in the
Sir Joseph Banks Group The Sir Joseph Banks Group is an archipelago in the Australian state of South Australia located in Spencer Gulf about off the eastern coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It consists of 21 islands of which eighteen are in the Sir Joseph Banks Group Co ...
in Spencer Gulf, South Australia. It is privately owned, has no permanent human residents and is grazed by
sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...
. The island was used for the breeding of sheep by James Hunter Kerrison, then for the breeding of horses, sheep, pigs and
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
by W. E. Scruby in the early 20th century. Shearers travelled to the island to shear the sheep. The island's soil has been enriched by the deposition of guano by seabirds. Land allotments and a few shacks are concentrated along the northern coast of the island. Butterfish Bay is on the northern coast and Hawknest Bay is on the eastern coast.


History

Spilsby Island was named by Matthew Flinders after crew member Franklin's hometown in Lincolnshire. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the island was visited by fishers, shooters and guano miners. The island was once owned by Joseph Sawyer. Sawyer worked in oyster dredging and cartage before taking up the lease on Spilsby Island. He traveled between Port Linclon and Spilsby Island in the cutter Albion, which was later renamed Ammonia. His son, Spilsby Sawyer just found out im related to him, was born on the island in 1872 and named after it. In 1885, Spilsby Island was made available to lease for agricultural purposes. Sawyer applied to lease the island but his application was rejected and the lease was issued to someone else. Until his death in 1903, the island lease owned by Henry Mortlock Scruby. In 1904, there were three men, a boy and no women living on the island. In 1909, W. E. Scruby was growing wheat and barley across 300 acres of the island. The soil was dark, sandy loam vegetation which in some parts grew right to the water's edge. While W. E. Scruby was lessee, he introduced and raised sheep, cattle and horses there. He also made efforts to reduce and control the rabbit population by poisoning them. Scruby had previously worked for the Engineering and Water Supply Department and constructed a dam on the island to catch rainwater. The island was offered under perpetual lease in 1933. Three dams had been dug by 1945, one of them being 17 yard long, 15 yards wide and 12 feet deep and dug in three weeks. W. E. Scruby's daughter, E. J. Scruby, was a nurse in Adelaide. In 1948 the Scruby family was in possession of a 99 year lease on the island and Jack Scruby was living alone there. At that time the newspaper was being dropped by passing plane. In 1919, Eardley Tyrell was the manager of Spilsby Island. The island was occupied by Jim Kerrison from 1923 until he took a job with the Customs Department. In the 1920s a lighthouse was operating on Spilsby Island. The proposition of erecting one there had been discussed in 1909.


Climate

In 1945, the climate on the island was described as not exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, and free of frost in the winter. It was suitable for growing vegetables and raising livestock. It received 11 inches of rain a year.


Flora and fauna

Lessee Jim Kerrison introduced Chinchilla rabbits to the island. They were observed by the McCoy Society during a natural history expedition. It began as an experiment with Kerrison believing that he could profit by breeding them and selling their skins. The market for their skins collapsed and by the 1930s, their population numbered thousands. In 1933, it was thought that the animals could be eradicated for a cost of 10 or 20 pounds. The original rabbits (variously described as between two and six) escaped from captivity and proliferated, making homes in the north-western section of the island among limestone rubble and juniper bushes. Other plant life includes native grasses and ice plant. In the 1920s, the island would commonly host four or five hundred Cape Barren Geese during breeding season. The geese were present on the island year-round, unlike on neighbouring islands. The Rock parrot and
quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
have also been seen there. In 1935, the Little penguin was living in burrows "all around" the shores of Spilsby Island. In 2006, there were an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 penguins on Spilsby Island. In 2011, that number had dropped to less than 100. In the 20th century, people who fished near Spilsby Island caught salmon, whiting, snook, sea pike, snapper, sweep and other smaller fishes. In 1938, George Bird had a close encounter off Spilsby Island with a shark estimated to be 12 to 13 feet long, and R. G. Cowell hooked a 15 foot long
Great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocean ...
there the following year but his line broke and it got away.
Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...
caught one there in 1939.
Southern rock lobster ''Jasus edwardsii'', the southern rock lobster, red rock lobster, or spiny rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found throughout coastal waters of southern Australia and New Zealand including the Chatham Islands. It is commonly called '' ...
also live off the island, and various Wobbegongs, also known as carpet sharks. Scruby said that in 1933 a fishing cutter took 10,000 Southern rock lobster, and after that, they became scarce. In 1936, fishermen described catching sweep as quickly as they could bait the hooks. In 1941,
Southern bluefin tuna The southern bluefin tuna (''Thunnus maccoyii'') is a tuna of the family Scombridae found in open southern Hemisphere waters of all the world's oceans mainly between 30°S and 50°S, to nearly 60°S. At up to and weighing up to , it is among ...
occurred southeast of Spilsby Island. A spearfishing trip to the island from Port Lincoln in 1953 reported catching strongfish, trevally, silver drummer, Western blue groper and catching but not landing a 200 lb stingray.


Surveys

In 1963, a survey of the island was made by teachers and pupils from Scotch College, led by the principal, Charles Fisher. The survey involved geographical, geological and biological investigations. The group discovered
tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
and molybdenum mineralisation, a sea anemone thought to be unique and other rare organisms.


Shipwrecks

In 1882, a group of five men were found on Spilsby Island after being castaway there for nine days. They had been employed by the Sir Joseph Banks Guano Company. They had sailed to
Dangerous Reef Dangerous Reef is an island and reef system located in the Spencer Gulf in the Australian state of South Australia about east-southeast of the city, Port Lincoln. It is the southernmost member of the Sir Joseph Banks Group. It has been the s ...
beforehand, where they had attempted to kill some Australian sea lions. They survived by catching and eating sheep after their vessel was wrecked. They expressed their gratitude to the mayor of Port Adelaide for his success in arranging a search and rescue operation. In 1899, the schooner ''Lucretia'' ran aground on Buffalo Reef, near Spilsby Island. In 1901, the ''Acamas'' became stranded on Sandy Spit north of Spilsby Island, and waited for a spring tide to refloat. In 1917, the
ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...
''Ina'' was wrecked at the south-eastern end of the island. The vessel's anchor was recovered by chance in 1941. In 1923, the schooner ''Rooganah'' was damaged when it struck a rock off the island but did not sink. In 1924, James Marshall was drowned in rough weather off Spilsby Island. His body was not recovered.{{Cite news, date=1924-08-02, title=DISAPPEARANCE OF A FISHERMAN., pages=49, work=Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89377402, access-date=2021-05-31 The wreck of the ''Edith'' lies off the island's south-western shore.


References

Islands of South Australia Uninhabited islands of Australia