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Taylor Island, also known as Taylor's Island, is the largest in a group of seven islands located between the
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 ...
mainland and Thistle Island in the mouth of
Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe an ...
,
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 ...
. It was named by British explorer Matthew Flinders in 1802, after the loss of William Taylor, a midshipman and master's mate to John Thistle (after whom Thistle Island is named). The remaining islands in the group are also named after lost members of Flinders' expedition: Little Island, Lewis Island, Smith Island, Hopkins Island and Grindal Island. Taylor's Island has been used principally for the grazing of sheep while its surrounding waters are well regarded fishing grounds.


History

In 1876, a sporting party described Taylor Island as being "covered with rabbits, mutton birds, and Cape Barren geese." In 1910, a trawling expedition from Largs Bay to Venus Bay 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 ...
was abandoned after the steamer Argyle was met with high seas in the Investigator Strait. At one stage there was 7 feet of water in the well, and the ship's hand pump couldn't improve the situation. Water came within 3 inches of the furnaces, and the engineers and the firemen were working in waist-deep water. By the vessel's continual rolling motion, coal was also washed out of the bunkers and into the bilges. The coal had to be fished out of the water by hand to feed the furnaces. As the coal had about 5 feet of water over it, the work was tedious and difficult. The crews worked with buckets and hand-pumps and gradually reduced the quantity of water in the vessel. Owing to the continuous strain, all on board became exhausted. After the ordeal, the ship anchored at Taylor's Island for five days, while the crew made necessary repairs. In 1935, grazier Clarence Henry Lines was accused of stealing twenty sheep from fellow grazier R. L. C. Sinclair and five from P. S. Sinclair. The allegedly 'stolen' sheep were found grazing on Taylor Island. Lines denied having stolen the sheep and pleaded 'not guilty' in court. In 1940, the growth of feed for the grazing of sheep made Taylor Island 'a sight to be seen'. In 1947, Mr. Norm Johnson caught an unusually large snook off Taylor Island. It was 3 ft 3 inches in length, 10 inches in girth and weighed over 7 lbs. In March 1950, first-time big game fisherman Mr. A. Dean of Mildura hooked four
great white sharks 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 ...
near Taylor Island. He only succeeded in landing one, which measured 11 ft. 5 inches. Its girth was 6 ft and it weighed 860 lb. Another escaped after a 30-minute struggle and was estimated to be 14 ft long. As of 1996, Taylor Island was under perpetual lease, and was still used for minor grazing.


Navigation aids

A
navigation aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
consisting of a tower with a single flashing light was installed in 1982. The light, which is above sea level, assists vessel underway at night along the east coast of the Jussieu Peninsula, particularly those vessels that approaching from the south via the Thorny Passage or the east coast of Thistle Island.


Flora and Fauna

Plants recorded on Taylor Island include: Dryland Tea-tree (
Melaleuca lanceolata ''Melaleuca lanceolata'' commonly known as black paperbark, moonah, Rottnest Island teatree and western black tea tree is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Australia where it occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, V ...
), Coastal White Mallee ( Eucalyptus diversifolia), Nitre bush, Pointed twinleaf, Native juniper, Kangaroo thorn, Dysentery bush, Old man's beard, Yorrell, Native lilac, Weeping pittosporum and Cockie's tongue.
Western grey kangaroos Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
were introduced to the island, but Brush-tailed possums are native there. Birds include
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 dar ...
, Grey fantail,
Golden whistler The Australian golden whistler (''Pachycephala pectoralis'') or golden whistler, is a species of bird found in forest, woodland, mallee, mangrove and scrub in Australia (except the interior and most of the north)Ken Simpson, K., & N. Day. (1994) ...
and
Richard's pipit Richard's pipit (''Anthus richardi'') is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in open grasslands in the East Palearctic. It is a long-distance migrant moving to open lowlands in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is a rare but ...
. Rosenberg's goanna lives on the island.


See also

*
Owen Island Owen Island in the Antarctic is a small (19 ha), circular, ice-free island lying between Round Point and Pottinger Point about 500 m off the north coast of King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands. It was charted and na ...


References

{{Islands of South Australia , state=collapsed Islands of South Australia Spencer Gulf