Ninth Island

Group of three little penguins at the entrance of a nesting burrow
The island is home to thousands of little penguins

Ninth Island is an island in Bass Strait in south-eastern Australia.

It is approximately 1.3 km long, 550 m wide and covers an area of 32 ha. It is part of the Waterhouse Island Group, lying 11.7 km from the north-eastern coast of Tasmania. It is partly privately owned and has been badly affected in the past by grazing, frequent fires and, in July 1995, by the MV Iron Baron oil spill which killed between 2000 and 6000 little penguins.[1] The island forms part of the Ninth and Little Waterhouse Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), so identified by BirdLife International because it holds over 1% of the world population of black-faced cormorants.[2]

In approx 1988-1989, Ninth Island was purchased for $64,000.[3] In February 2015, Ninth Island was advertised for sale, with an asking price of A$500,000.[4] On 11 July 2015 it was passed in at auction for $1.19 million.[5]

The island currently does not have a jetty or an airstrip, so the only way to access the island is via helicopter.

A conservation covenant exists on the island, owing to the fact a mutton-bird rookery exists on the island.[6]

Ninth Island lies within the Dorset municipality.[7]

The Ninth Island is 32 hectares in size. In 2012 the 'Ninth Island Conservation Area' (26.4 hectares) was formed on the island. This conservation area completely surrounds the central hill on the island and extends all the way to the shoreline. In addition, the full tidal region of the island's shoreline has been designated Tidal Crown Land, managed by the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service.[8]

Fauna

As well as the black-faced cormorants, recorded breeding seabirds and waders include the little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, common diving-petrel, white-faced storm-petrel, Pacific gull, silver gull, sooty oystercatcher and crested tern. Cape Barren geese also breed there, European rabbits have been introduced and the southern grass skink is present.[1]

Other islands in the Waterhouse Group with breeding seabirds include:[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X
  2. ↑ "IBA: Ninth and Little Waterhouse Islands". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
  3. ↑ "The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search".
  4. ↑ "nocookies". The Mercury.
  5. ↑ "Aussie island passes in at auction in disagreement over just $5000". Australian Real estate news.
  6. ↑ "Gallery - @ domain.com.au".
  7. ↑ http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/opc/publications.html?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZhcHBsaWNhdGlvbnMuZHBhYy50YXMuZ292LmF1JTJGb3BjJTJGaW5kZXhOLVIucGRmJmFsbD0x
  8. ↑ http://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/list/map

Coordinates: 40°50′S 147°16′E / 40.833°S 147.267°E / -40.833; 147.267

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