Vansittart Island, also known as Gun Carriage Island, is a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

island with an area of . The island is part of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

's Vansittart Island Group, lying in eastern

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Bo ...

between Flinders and

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in the Bass Strait, off the north east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second largest island of the Furneaux Group; Flinders Island lies to the north, with th ...

s in the

Furneaux Group The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of ...

. It is partly private property and partly leasehold land and is currently used for grazing

Wiltshire Horn The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat. The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturally ...

sheep. The island is part of the Franklin Sound Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it holds over 1% of the world populations of six bird species.

History of colonial times

#Former Bass Strait sealers were living on the island by the 1820s. In 1831 George Robinson came to evict the sealers and their families as he wanted to establish an Aboriginal settlement (see Section 5 below) on the island. When the Aboriginal establishment proved unsuccessful the sealers and their families returned to the island. Their community had grown to 28 people by the time

Bishop Nixon A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

came to visit in 1854. #In 1842 the island was formally charted by and renamed from Gun Carriage Island to Vansittart Island. "Vansittart" is a significant maritime name within private and naval vessels, linked to the East India Company where

Henry Vansittart Henry Vansittart (3 June 1732 – 1770) was an English colonial administrator, who was the Governor of Bengal from 1759 to 1764. Life Vansittart was born in Bloomsbury in Middlesex, the third son of Arthur van Sittart (1691–1760), and his wi ...

was Governor of Bengal from 1759 to 1764. #In that year 1842 HMS ''Beagle'' returned to Van Diemens Land following a reverse circumference of Australia, via Timor and Swan River, Western Australia; Lt John Lort Stokes was affirmed as captain following the departure of then Cpt Wickham at Brisbane for reasons of sickness. ''Beagle'' was destined to join the Van Diemens Land government's cutter the ''Vansittart'' (seconded from the Van Diemens Land Government as tender to HMS ''Beagle'') for the NE charting of Tasmania and the Bass Strait. Following which in the Bass Strait - Flinders Group of islands, "Gun Carriage Island" (named by sealers) was officially named "Vansittart Island". #Originally the vessel ''Vansittart'' was a private sloop with two cannon arriving from London and Cowes into Hobart Town, Van Diemens Land with eight souls aboard on 30 January 1836. Following arrival, within days ''Vansittart'' was sharing the harbour with HMS ''Beagle'' when Captain Robert Fitzroy and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

with Lt Wickham berthed on 5 February 1836 on their reverse circumference of the globe, establishing the Theory of Evolution. This was the first of two considerably notable meetings between the two vessels. ''Vansittart'' traded between Hobart Town, Sydney, Kangaroo Island and Launceston prior to purchase by the colonial government of Van Diemens Land (renamed Tasmania 1856) on 22 February 1837 for "search and rescue". #''Vansittart'' frequently visited Port Arthur and progressed to be a government revenue cutter and is purported to have transported the last Aboriginals from the main island of Van Diemens Land to the Flinders Group for a failed resettlement. ''Vansittart'' was lost at sea when sailing from Sydney to California as a private vessel under Master Gill 1849, the California Gold Rush had started in 1848.Sections 2 to 5 of History contributed by "errolanderson@bigpond.com" descendant of an original crewman aboard the ''Vansittart'' voyage from London to VDL 1836.. George Mason

Flora and fauna

Most of the original vegetation of the island has been cleared by the use of fire and by bulldozers with chains, destroying many stands of Oyster Bay pine. Recorded breeding

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 envir ...

and

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

species are

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 li ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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. ...

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 ...

s have nested on the island, which is also a refuge for

Cape Barren geese The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae'') is a large goose resident in southern Australia. Etymology The species' common name is derived from Cape Barren Island, where specimens were first sighted by European explorers. It is known ...

Reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...

s present include tiger snake, copperhead snake, white-lipped grass snake, southern grass skink,

metallic skink :''"Metallic skink" may also refer to the garden skink ( Lampropholis delicata)''. ''Carinascincus metallicus'', the metallic cool-skink or metallic skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to Australia, found in sout ...

and

Bougainville's skink Bougainville's skink (''Lerista bougainvillii'') is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. This species is also commonly called the south-eastern slider and Bougainville's lerista. Etymology The specific name, ''bougainvillii ...

Echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the ...

s are present, though the

Tasmanian pademelon The Tasmanian pademelon (''Thylogale billardierii''), also known as the rufous-bellied pademelon or red-bellied pademelon, is the sole species of pademelon found in Tasmania, and was formerly found throughout southeastern Australia. This pademel ...

is extinct there.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features''. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart.

References

{{coord, 40, 16, S, 148, 18, E, display=title Furneaux Group Important Bird Areas of Tasmania Islands of North East Tasmania

History of colonial times

Flora and fauna

See also

References