Cape Portland, officially Luemerrernanner / Cape Portland, is both a geographical feature and a locality near the north-eastern tip 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 ...

, Australia. The

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

points west across Ringarooma Bay, where the

Ringarooma River The Ringarooma River is a perennial river located in the north-east region of Tasmania, Australia. Location and features The Ringarooma River rises below Mount Maurice and flows generally east by north, joined by ten tributaries including the ...

empties into the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

. It was named after the

Duke of Portland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...

during his 1798 circumnavigation of the island in the sloop ''Norfolk'' with

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early life Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George B ...

. The Pyemmairre name of the Cape Portland district is ''Tebrakunna''.

Banks Strait The Clarke Island, also known by its Indigenous name of lungtalanana, part of the Furneaux Group, is an island in Bass Strait, south of Cape Barren Island, about off the northeast coast of Tasmania, Australia. Banks Strait separates the island ...

separates Cape Portland from Clarke Island, one of 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 ...

, to the north.

History

Cape Portland Post Office opened on 6 April 1865 (first as a receiving house) and finally closed in 1918.

Birds

It is the site of the 67 km² Cape Portland

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

which includes the cape itself, some adjacent land, a strip of coastline east of the cape extending to Policemans Point at the mouth of Ansons Bay, and nearby Swan Island. This area supports more than 1% of the world population of the

Cape Barren goose The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae''), sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to oth ...

chestnut teal The chestnut teal (''Anas castanea'') is a dabbling duck found in Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Taxonomy The chestnut teal was described by the English naturalist Thomas Campbell Eyton in 1838 under ...

and the

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

hooded plover The hooded plover or hooded dotterel (''Charadrius cucullatus'') is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It is endemic to southern Australia, where it inhabits ocean beaches and subcoastal lagoons. Taxonomy The hooded plover was Species ...

. It also occasionally supports large numbers of

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. ...

double-banded plover The double-banded plover (''Anarhynchus bicinctus''), known as the banded dotterel or pohowera in New Zealand, is a species of bird in the plover family. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate ''Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus'', which bree ...

s and breeding

fairy tern The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as " Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is "Critically Endangered". Fairy terns live in colonies along the coastli ...

Notable people

Dora Jeanette Turner (1888–1953), a local educationist, was born here on 8 January 1888.

References

Bass Strait North East Tasmania Important Bird Areas of Tasmania Coastline of Tasmania Localities of Dorset Council (Australia) William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland {{DorsetTAS-geo-stub