The Kent Group are a grouping of six

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 und ...

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

s located in

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

, north-west 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 t ...

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

, Australia. Collectively, the group is comprised within the Kent Group National Park. The islands were named Kent's Group by

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 ...

, "in honour of my friend captain

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...

, then commander of '' Supply''" when Flinders passed them on 8 February 1798 in ''

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

'' (on her way to salvage ''

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove ( Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney loca ...

'')., entry for 8 February 1798 The largest island in the group is Deal Island; the others, in order of descending size, are Erith Island, Dover Island,

North East Isle The North East Isle, part of the Kent Group, is an unpopulated granite island, located in the Bass Strait, lying off the north-east coast of Tasmania, between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia. The island ...

, South West Isle and Judgement Rocks.

History

Seal hunting Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), I ...

took place on the islands from at least 1803.

Shipwrecks

Murray Pass, named for the explorer John Murray, between Deal and Erith Islands has long been used by ships to shelter from gales in Bass Strait, but it is a dangerous, partly open,

roadstead A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5 ...

, and many ships have been wrecked after sudden changes in wind direction and speed. Others have hit the island either while attempting to shelter or through poor navigation in darkness or bad weather, several with heavy loss of life. They include:Broxam & Nash, ''Tasmanian Shipwrecks'', Volumes 1 and 2, Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1998 and 2000, and * 1816, '' Brothers'',

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

, 40 tons, Captain

William Hovell William Hilton Hovell (26 April 1786 – 9 November 1875) was an English explorer of Australia. With Hamilton Hume, he made an 1824 overland expedition from Sydney to Port Phillip (near the site of present-day Melbourne), and later explored th ...

, one life lost. * 1819, ''

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in wh ...

'',

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

, 151 tons, Captain John Howard, no lives lost. * 1819, ''

John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians *John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician *Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician *John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York *John Palmer (1842–1905), ...

'',

, 37 tons, Captain Bastian, two lives lost (one ex ''Daphne'') * 1831, ''Ionia'',

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet ...

, 226 tons, Captain Buck. ?Three lives lost. * 1850, ''Ida'', schooner, 50 tons, no loss of life. * 1851, ''White Squall'', schooner, 104 tons, Captain Chattock, no loss of life. * 1852, ''

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

'', brig, 82 tons, Captain Birdwood, no loss of life. * 1852, ''Mary'', brig, 308 tons, no loss of life. * 1855, ''Elizabeth Mason'', schooner, 79 tons, Captain McIntyre, no loss of life. * 1856, ''Kendall'', schooner, 157 tons, Captain Read, no lives lost. * 1862, ''Reindeer'', schooner, 104 tons, Captain Morris, all hands (about 8) lost. * 1863, ''General Jessup'',

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

, 193 tons, Captain Hodge, no loss of life. * 1866, ''Boscarne'', schooner, 63 tons, Captain Black, no loss of life. * 1875, ''Essie Black'', barque, 281 tons, Captain Sivier, all hands (about 10) lost. * 1877, ''Bulli'', iron steamship, 524 tons, Captain Randell, no loss of life (a popular dive wreck). * 1921, ''Karitane'', steel steamship, 1376 tons, Captain Spain, no loss of life. * 1930, ''Ida N'', new fishing boat, 25 tons, Captain Busk, no lives lost. * 1961, ''St Nicholas'', newly completed fish carrier, 45 tons, no loss of life.

References

{{Islands of Tasmania , state=collapsed Islands of Bass Strait Shipwrecks of Tasmania Islands of Northern Tasmania Seal hunting

History

Shipwrecks

See also

References