Whitemark is a rural residential locality on

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Today Flinders Island is part of the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is from Cape Portland, Tasmania, Cape Portl ...

in the local government area (LGA) of Flinders in the

North-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

LGA region of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. The 2021 census recorded a population of 308 for the state suburb of Whitemark. It is the main settlement of Flinders Island.

Buildings

Whitemark has a local pub, called the Flinders Island Interstate Hotel. It also has a post office, a supermarket, a bakery, a petrol station, a mechanic, an Anglican Church and a library as well as small local produce businesses.

History

Whitemark was gazetted as a locality in 1970. The name may be derived from a conspicuous white mark placed by an early surveyor. Whitemark Post Office opened around 1902. The Hydro Tasmania developed power supply for the settlement in the 1980s. The local newspaper was the ''Island News'' from 1954 to 2004.

Geography

The waters of

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

form the western and south-western boundaries.

Climate

Whitemark has a

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

( Köppen: Cfb), with tepid, somewhat dry summers summers and cool, wetter winters. Average maxima vary from in February to in July while average minima fluctuate between in February and in July. Mean average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

is moderate, spread between 158.8 precipitation days, and is concentrated in

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

. The town is not very sunny, with 108.6 cloudy days and only 47.6 clear days per annum. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 29 January 2009 to on 28 July 1976. Climate data was sourced from

Flinders Island Airport Flinders Island Airport is a small regional airport located northwest of Whitemark on Flinders Island off the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The airport is owned and operated by the Flinders Council. The airport site has a total ...

, northwest of Whitemark.

Road infrastructure

Route B85 (Palana Road / Lady Barron Road) passes through from north-west to south.

References

{{authority control Flinders Island Towns in Tasmania