The Three Hummock Island, part of the Hunter Island Group, is a

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

, located in the

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 ...

near King Island, lying off the north-west coast 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 island is named after its three most prominent hills, North, Middle and South Hummock, the latter being the highest, with an elevation of

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

. From the mid-19th century until the mid-1970s, most of the island was subject to a

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

, allowing farming and grazing to take place. The focus of human settlement on the island is the homestead at Chimney Corner at the westernmost point. There is an automated

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

at Cape Rochon in the north-east, as well as roads, three

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

s, fencing and a

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

. Seasonal

muttonbirding Muttonbirding is the seasonal harvesting of the chicks of petrels, especially shearwater species, for food, oil and feathers by recreational or commercial hunters. Such hunting of petrels and other seabirds has occurred in various locations sin ...

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

Flora and fauna

Much of the island is composed of dense scrub, dominated by ''

Leptospermum scoparium ''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of '' Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the gre ...

'', '' Melaleuca ericifolia'' and '' Banksia marginata'', while 25% of the area is covered by '' Eucalyptus nitida'' woodland. The island forms part of the Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area. Breeding

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s and shorebirds include

little penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is the smallest species of penguin. It originates from New Zealand. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage and is also known by ...

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 A ...

Pacific gull The Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus'') is a gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon, Western Australia, Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the s ...

s, pied oystercatchers,

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 ...

s and

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 ...

. Mammals include the introduced

eastern grey kangaroo The eastern grey kangaroo (''Macropus giganteus'': gigantic large-foot; also great grey kangaroo or forester kangaroo) is a marsupial found in the eastern third of Australia, with a population of several million. Although a large ''M. giganteus ...

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s and house mice.

Feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

were recorded in a 1999 survey.

Tiger snake The tiger snake (''Notechis scutatus'') is a large and highly venomous snake of southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. These snakes are often observed and locally well known by their banding, black and yellow like a ti ...

s are also present.

European settlement

Warne Family

Elias Albert Warne acquired a lease over the island in 1926. His son, Cecil Vernon Warne, arrived from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in February 1926, aboard the ''Hillsmeads'', bringing the first 500 sheep to the Island. During the following weeks, three more shipments arrived, making a total of 2,200 sheep. Some cattle were still on the island, having been left by previous lessors. They were rounded up, and some sold with a bull purchased from Hunter Island. Fences were repaired. Two years previously, Cecil Warne had married Dulcie Ruby Trevena in Birchip, Victoria. Dulcie had remained in Melbourne for the birth of their first son, Colin Robert, on 8 April. Cecil returned to Melbourne for the birth and came back with some family members. He set about constructing a shearing shed and sheep pens, and even constructed a cement-lined sheep dip, which still exists under a boxthorn hedge. The family lived in a house built in 1910 and Dulcie baked bread in the big wood oven, made butter and sold some at times. An older house, built c.1850, was recycled for timber and nails to build the shearing shed. Tracks were cleared around the island, with only transport being horses pulling a sled for new fence posts, tools and, sometimes, family for a weekend picnic. On 2 September, shearers arrived and helped with final work on the sheep dip. They spent almost five weeks until all sheep were shorn and dipped, with 48 bales of wool sent off to market aboard the ''Coomonderry.'' During their first year (1926) they were able to send to market the following: cattle 277, sheep 704, butter 9 boxes, wool 48 bales. Cecil and Dulcie left the island in 1929 and went back to farming in the Mallee. Elias and other members of the Warne family remained on the island looking after the stock. During 1931, Elias advertised the island for stock

agistment Agistment originally referred specifically to the proceeds of pasturage in the king's forests. To agist is, in English law, to take cattle to graze, in exchange for payment (derived, via Anglo-Norman ''agister'', from the Old French ''gîte">g ...

. In 1933, an auction was held for a new 16-year lease and the Nichols Family commenced their time on the island.

Nichols family

Bill and Amelia ("Ma") Nichols leased Three Hummock Island from 1933 till 1950, grazing cattle and sheep. They were also involved in fishing and muttonbirding. Over the years they owned several ships, including ''Lady Jean'', ''Lady Flinders'', and ''Jean Nichols'', which were used to carry cargo and passengers to and from the Bass Strait islands and to Melbourne and Launceston. They built up a small community of workers on the island, including some of their relations. One of these workers was Peggy Puckett, from Stanley. Her story is told in ''A Walk Along the Shore'' in which she describes life on the island with the Nichols family during the six years she lived with them, from 1937 to 1943. Mrs Nichols named "Peg's Paddock" after her, mentioned in both ''A Walk Along the Shore'' and Eleanor Alliston's ''Escape to An Island''. The Nichols family left the island in 1950 and the Alliston family arrived in 1951.

Alliston family

Eleanor Alliston wrote ''Escape to an Island'' and ''Island Affair'', about the life of her family on Three Hummock Island. The two books tell the story of how the Alliston family emigrated from England after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to start a new life alone on the island, in the hope of providing a better and different childhood for their children. The second book ends in 1984, the island having a population of two, the author and her husband. Their four children, who were brought up on the island, had left it, were married with families, having a total of ten grandchildren. In the 1990s, one of the Alliston children, Rob, returned to the island to run a tourist venture. The Alliston family sold the lease in 2006. The book ''Island Affair'' contains mention of

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

's visit to the island in 1852 as a captain of the trading vessel ''Carmen'', while in exile from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Ecotourism

In 1978, the majority of the 7,400 hectares was declared a Nature Reserve, and in 2001 a State Reserve. John and Beverley O'Brien lived on Three Hummock Island from 2009-2018, as managers. Three Hummock Island now operates as an eco-tourism venture, with accommodation for up 14 people.

References

External links

Three Hummock Island website
{{Islands of Tasmania Islands of North West Tasmania Protected areas of Tasmania Important Bird Areas of Tasmania Islands of Australia (Tenure: State Reserve) Localities of Circular Head Council Islands of Bass Strait