The Hibbs Pyramid is a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

island, located in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, off the south western coast of

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

, Australia. The island is contained within the

Southwest National Park Southwest National Park is an Australian national park located in the South West Tasmania, south-west of Tasmania, bounded by the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park to the north and the Hartz Mountains National Park to the east. It is a ...

, part of the

Tasmanian Wilderness The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, abbreviated to TWWHA, is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering , or almost 25% of Tasmania. It is also one of the last e ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Features and location

With a surface area of , the island is located in Hibbs Bay, adjacent to

Point Hibbs Point Hibbs is a headland on the South West Tasmania, south-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The headland is located south of the most southern point of Macquarie Harbour, and west of the Gordon River. It is the next named feature along the c ...

at an elevation of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

. The island is part of the Hibbs Pyramid Group, lying close to the central western coast of Tasmania. The nearest major centre is , located approximately to the north. In early stages of the exploration of the region, the Pyramid Rock was considered a good sheltering location for coastal shipping offloading materials.

Hibbs Pyramid Group

The Hibbs Pyramid group of islands includes: * Hibbs Pyramid *

Leelinger Island Leelinger Island is a flat dolerite island with an area of 1.54 ha in south-eastern Australia. It is part of the Hibbs Pyramid Group, lying close to the central western coast of Tasmania.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Ha ...

Hays Reef Hays Reef is a small, rocky islet in south-eastern Australia. It is part of the Hibbs Pyramid Group, lying close to the central western coast of Tasmania.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania’s ...

* Black Island *

Montgomery Rocks Montgomery Rocks comprises a pair of rocky dolerite and limestone islets, with a combined area of 3.69 ha and a high point of 50 m, part of the Hibbs Pyramid Group, lying close to the central western coast of Tasmania.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton ...

Fauna

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 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 mudflats in order to foraging, ...

species are the

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 l ...

(820 pairs),

short-tailed shearwater The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (''Ardenna tenuirostris''; formerly ''Puffinus tenuirostris''), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in ...

(9,000 pairs) and

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 fe ...

fur seal Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family ''Otariidae''. They are much more closely related to sea lions than Earless seal, true seals, and share with them external ears (pinnae), r ...

s haul-out on an adjacent rock. Reptiles present include the

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 sou ...

and

Tasmanian tree skink The agile cool-skink or Tasmanian tree skink (''Carinascincus pretiosus'') is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to Tasmania and the Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania fr ...

. In 2003 there was a mass stranding of 110 long-finned

pilot whale Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, ...

s and twenty

bottle-nosed dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the comm ...

s at Hibbs Pyramid. All of the animals died.

Etymology

The island, together with the adjacent Hibbs Bay, Hibbs Lagoon, Hibbs River, and Point Hibbs are named in honour of Peter Hibbs, an English mariner who arrived in the Colony of New South Wales (now Australia) in 1788 aboard , a ship of the First Fleet. Commanding the ''Norfolk'' on a voyage around Tasmania in 1798-99 that carried

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

and

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

, Flinders named a cluster of features on the west coast of Tasmania after Hibbs.

References

{{Islands of Tasmania , state=autocollapse Islands of South West Tasmania Protected areas of Tasmania

Features and location

Hibbs Pyramid Group

Fauna

Etymology

See also

References