Air Adventure Australia

Destination Profile - King Island, Tasmania

King Island is situated south of Melbourne at the Western end of Bass Strait. This tiny speck in the Great Southern Ocean is among the few remains of the land bridge that once linked Tasmania to the Australian mainland, and is approximately 100km from both coasts.

Windswept, rugged, with an annual rainfall of 1,000 mm, King Island has over 145 kms of untouched coastline.

It is 64km from north to south and 26km from east to west with an area in the vicinity of 126,000ha, and lies at 144° longitude and 40° latitude, which places it in the path of the "Roaring Forties", a strong prevailing westerly wind. Air travel is presently the only means of transport for passengers. Mail services and some freight items are also transported via air with daily services from both Tullamarine and Moorabbin in Victoria and Wynyard on the north west coast of Tasmania, also cargo ships once a week.

Kelp harvesting is a major industry on King Island, supplying about 5% of the world's production of alginates which are used for thickening liquid in detergents and shampoos, grouting, improvement of flow properties of welding electrode fluxes and for medical purposes. Kelp is a rich source of natural vitamins and minerals, including essential trace minerals; it is especially high in iodine, and as the plant's nutrients come in a natural form, they are easily assimilated by the body. Alginates are also used as the stabilising agent in foodstuffs such as ice cream, salad dressings and imitation cream.

King Island has gained an extraordinary reputation for its dairy products. King Island butters, cheeses and cream (particularly clotted cream) have found their way into fashionable delicatessens on the mainland; with many awards being won both nationally and internationally.

King Island Lighthouses

Ever since Bass Strait was charted by George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798, many ship's captains have decided to risk the dangerous passage to shorten the time needed to reach Sydney. Many have come to grief. The King Island Maritime Trail Shipwrecks & Safe Havens tells some of the stories of the shipwrecks both heart-breaking and heroic. It also tells of the safe havens set up at Currie and Grassy, and of the welcome lighthouses built at Cape Wickham and Currie.

King Island is an idyllic spot on a fine day, but the "Roaring Forties" can turn paradise into purgatory. It forms a barrier to the western approach to Bass Strait, which vessels must navigate. The area between the island and Cape Otway, on the Victorian Coast, is known as the "Eye of the Needle", and has claimed many ships and lives. King Island's rugged coastline alone has claimed at least 60 vessels and more than 800 lives during the past 180 years.

A lighthouse was established at Cape Wickham, the north western cape of King island, in 1861. However some ship's captains mistook this for the Cape Otway lighthouse, to the north, and steered directly into the island as a result. Such incidents were the "Arrow" in 1865, "Netherby" in 1866, the "Lock Leven" in 1871, the "Anna" in 1873 and "Blencathra" in 1875.

The impressive Cape Wickham Lighthouse, at 48 metres, is Australia's tallest lighthouse, and is also the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere.

The light was automated in 1918 replacing the original single wick oil burner with an acetylene flasher. This changed the character of the light from being "fixed" to group flashing, showing two flashes in quick succession every 10 seconds, and increased the candlepower from 7,500 to 13,000 candles.

The lighthouse was demanned in 1921 after which the Superintendent's house and the three cottages were demolished. The light is now tended by the lightkeeper from Currie.

It was Australia's largest maritime disaster, the wrecking of the "Cataraqui" with losses of 402 lives in 1845, that eventually lead to the establishment of Cape Wickham. An earlier loss of the "Neva" with 225 lives, mainly convict women and children in 1835, had brought no reaction from authorities.

Although the island had only a small population it became quite famous during the nineteenth century because it was the site of numerous shipwrecks. In fact the wreck of the Cataraqui in 1845 resulted in the loss of 406 lives, one of the worst maritime disasters in Australian history. The incident is recalled in the naming of Cataraqui Point at the south end of Fitzmaurice Bay.

In an attempt to prevent such shipwrecks no fewer than five lighthouses were built around King Island's coastline. The most important lighthouse was built at Cape Wickham in 1861. Granite was quarried nearby and the stones were hauled to the top of the hill on a horse-driven tramway. It was a suitable, if somewhat ghoulish irony, that while constructing the lighthouse skeletons, thought to be survivors from the Neva which had been wrecked on the coast in 1835, were found in the area.

In total there have been 57 shipwrecks along King Island's coasts. The unreliability of the weather is Bass Strait was obviously the main factor. It is still possible for divers to explore the wrecks of the Neva (1835), Cataraqui (1845), Netherby (1866), British Admiral (1874) and Blencathra (1875).

The Cape Wickham Lighthouse is located at the northern tip of King Island, in Bass Strait. It also marks the southern end of the "Eye of the Needle," the dangerous narrow western entrance, 84 kilometres wide, that ships had to go through to get into Bass Strait and to Melbourne.

Constructed in 1879 and first lit in 1880, the Currie Harbour lighthouse is a screw-pile foundation design. The entire assembly, 312 pieces, was pre-fabricated in England by Chance Bros, and is of wrought iron and a cast iron base. The cylinder in the centre has 90 spiral steps.

This destination is part of the Tasmania and her Isles Australian Adventure.