The Friars (Tasmania)

The Friar Island group

Australian fur seal colony, Friar Island

The Friars are four steep dolerite rocks, with a combined area of about 17 ha (42 acres), in south-eastern Australia. They are part of the Actaeon Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, at the southern entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the mainland. They form part of South Bruny National Park.^[1][2]

The group was named The Fryars by Tobias Furneaux in Adventure in March 1773.^[3][4]

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird species are the little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, fairy prion and common diving-petrel. The metallic skink is present. Australian fur seals, and possibly New Zealand fur seals, use the rocks as a regular haul-out site.^[1]

References

1. 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. Small Southern Islands Conservation Management Statement 2002 (PDF), Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, 2002, archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-08-22, retrieved 2006-07-20
3. The Early History of Tasmania.By R.W.Giblin 1928, page 47
4. Sprod, Dan (2005). "Furneaux, Tobias (1735 - 1781)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2008-05-05.

Coordinates: 43°31′S 147°17′E / 43.517°S 147.283°E