King Island - Bass Strait, Tasmania.
King Island is the largest island in the Hunter group and located roughly halfway between the north-west tip of Tasmania and Cape Otway on the Victorian coast.
The island was discovered by Captain Campbell on the Deptford in 1797 and named by a sealer, Captain Reid who arrived on the schooner Martha in 1798. Another sealer, Captain John Black arrived in the area shortly after Reid and found large numbers of fur and elephant seals on a rocky outcrop off the north-west coast which he named Harbinger Rocks after his Brigantine, Harbinger.
In 1802 Governor King, after whom the island was named, ensured it remained in British hands by dispatching a naval vessel, the Cumberland under the command of Lieutenant Charles Robbins, to officially claim the island and raise the Union Jack ahead of the French explorer Nicolas Baudin who was known to be heading into the area.
Sealers continued to occupy the island intermittently until the last left in 1854 after which it remained uninhabited for many years.
In the 1880’s grazing leases were taken up and the township of Currie was established on the west coast.
Today King Island is renowned as a gourmet’s delight, brimming with exceptional seafood, tender award winning beef, some of the world’s finest cheeses and even its own brand of pepper.
The King Island Maritime Trail Shipwrecks & Safe Havens is a great insight into some of the heart-breaking and heroic stories surrounding the many ships and more than one thousand lives lost in the treacherous waters of Bass Strait surrounding the island.
This Tassie Local snapshot was produced by Footloose Photographic & Media Solutions
Things to see around - King Island
King Island - Bass Strait, Tasmania
