Australia
Australia: ° Adelaide ° Brisbane ° Darwin ° Fremantle ° Hunter Islands ° Lord Howe Island ° Melbourne ° Perth ° New South Wales (Sydney) ° Norfolk Island ° Van Dieman's Land: Tasmania (Hobart Town, Port Arthur)
Hunter Islands
The Hunter Group of Islands lie in Bass Strait off the north-west tip of Tasmania due south of Geelong, Victoria. The Hunter and Matthew Islands are a group of two small volcanic islands in the South Pacific, located 300 km east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu archipelago. Hunter Island and Matthew Island, 70 km closed, are both claimed by Vanuatu (for Tafea province) and France (for New Caledonia).
There seems to be disagreement as to who named these islands. Separate sources cited:
- The island and the island group were named by British navigator Matthew Flinders after John Hunter, Governor, of the Colony of New South Wales, in December 1798 during the first recorded circumnavigation of Tasmania.
- Captain Thomas Gilbert of the Royal Navy on board the Charlotte discovered Matthew Island on 27 May 1788 and named it after the owner of his ship.
- Captain Jimmy Joe, on board of the whaler Hunter discovered the island (estimated to be in 1798) and named it after his ship.
Ile Hunter in French, also known as Fern or Fearn Island, 70 km east of Matthew Island at . About 1 km in area, the island have a dome shape, 242 meter high.
Hunter Island is in fact two conic islets attached by a 200 meter broad rocky isthmus. The east part is made of lava and slags, with a serrated peak of 177 meters high and the east part is made of basalt with a 142 meter peak. There is still a small volcanic activity on the island with sulfuric fumaroles from south-east island craters. Configuration of the island seems to have changed during the last century because it was described with only one peak before the second world war.
Hunter, Three Hummock, Albatross and Robbins and Walker Islands face swift currents. Adding to the beauty of the islands are mutton birds, the pelicans and albatross along with the myriad of other wild life. The islands are small, but are rife with individual characteristics identifying each in its own way.
Hunter Island is the largest island in the Hunter Group and lies six kilometers off the north-west tip of Tasmania. The island is approximately 25 km long, and 6.5 km wide at its widest point. Hunter Island shows evidence of 23,000 years of continuous occupation by Aboriginal people and has been inhabited by non-Aboriginal people for approximately 170 years. Many different owners have grazed cattle on the island lease since 1853. As can often be the case, despite its history of occupation, clearing and grazing, Hunter Island still retains its significance for conservation. The island is important for six now-threatened bird species, including the orange-bellied parrot, swift parrot, white-bellied sea eagle, shy albatross, Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and fairy prion. The birds use Hunter Island as a resting and feeding place each year on passage to King Island and the Victorian and South Australian coasts.
Hunter Island supports six ecological communities that are of priority for conservation at state level:
- Eucalyptus viminalis coastal forest
- Mutton bird colony
- Leptospermum/Melaleuca swamp forest
- Melaleuca ericifolia forest
- Dune vegetation
- Shrubby coastal heath.
There are eight plant species of conservation significance, including one of the most spectacular of the greenhood orchids, the endangered leafy greenhood Pterostylis cucullata. The leafy greenhood grows only along the very old (Holocene) sand dunes that transverse certain sections of the island, unfortunately the same areas where cattle grazing has been concentrated.
February 12, 1886, Warren Ledger, Warren, Pennsylvania, USA
Flood in Tionesia
The ice commenced to move in the river here on Saturday forenoon about 11 o'clock, I and had been running fully twenty minutes before any danger was apprehended, and the people along the river front had come to the conclusion that the worst was over, when the ice gorged in the main channel at the head of Dustin Island, half a mile below town, thus forcing the entire body of floating ice through the channel between the head of Dustin and the foot of Hunter islands. Then the water came rushing back, and before people had time to realize what was going on the whole flat or lower part of the town was inundated, so that boats were easily floated over five-foot fences. Ice was piled from ten to 15 feet high along Front street. Every cellar in that part of the town was flooded, and in many instances furniture floated around in the house in water two or three feet deep.
Forest Republican
March 16, 1895, Colonies and India, London, United Kingdom
Mr. P. C. Ashworth and Mr. D. Le Souef, of the Victorian Field Naturalists' Club, recently paid a visit to the Hunter group of islands in Bass' Straits, and landed on Albatross Island, which had not been trodden by the foot of man for 25 years. They found that the population of the island was confined entirely to albatrosses, and they lived in a cave for six days, owing to the weather being too rough to allow them to get away. They had rather an anxious time of it towards the last.
October 31, 1854, Daily Alta California, San Francsico, California, U.S.A.
The Red Jacket
Considerable interest has been excited in consequence of the appearance in our bay of one of the finest clipper ships the world has ever produced. The Red Jacket, under the command of Capt. Reed, has performed the passage from Liverpool to Port Philip, in the astonishing short period of 67 days 10 hours -- a passage unparalleled in the history of sailing ships. The greatest speed attained during her run from England to Australia in the 24 hours was 402 miles, being a little over 17 knots an hour! From the light winds under which the ship has labored, her passage has been astonishingly rapid, thus preventing the possibility of adhering strictly to the priniciple of great circular sailing. As a proof of the admirable qualities of this ornament to our sailing ships, it is recorded by Capt. Reed's log, that in her passage from the longitude of the Cape, taking it at 21 east, she occupied the short time of 17 days 10 hours.
~~ Melbourne Morning Herald, July 17
November 30, 1854, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California
Editor: I noticed that your correspondent "Canada." at Melbourne, whose letter was published in your yesterday's issue, stated that the world renowned clipper ship Red Jacket was built in New York. I will merely state that I was present on the day that this noble craft for the first time touched the water it was in Kockland. Maine. She was built by Geo. Thomas, Esq., and is owned by Messrs. Secomb & Taylor, of Boston, and Mr. Thomas, the builder. The Red Jacket is admitted to be the fleetest craft afloat. On her first voyage, which was from New York to Liverpool, for seven days the averaged eighteen knots an hour; while her greatest run in the 234 hours was four hundred and thirteen geographical miles, being about eighteen knots an hour!
~ W.
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Ellen Clacy
An 1853 account of a trip by Mrs Charles (Ellen) Clacy (1830-1901) to the Australian goldfields. Essentially a guide for prospective emigrants, with much practical advice within the narrative, this books sheds light on early Australian social history and hints at problems in the author's outwardly respectable life.
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Chinese Indentured Pastoral Workers on the Northern Frontier 1848 to c.1880
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Australians: Eureka to the Diggers
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Useful ideas unrestricted by geographic borders, ethnicity, religion, or magical path. Included are recipes and concepts from the Caribbean, African American soul food, Buddhist Meditation practices, sacred Hindu rites, Old European traditions, Australian Aboriginal dreaming lessons, and Native American wisdom.
"Four Seasons of Mojo" infuses ancient techniques, rituals, and methods from around the world to use each season''s inherent energies to supplement body, mind, and soul.
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Warships of the World to 1900
Lincoln P. Paine.
True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity
(Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science)
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Stephan Talty
Navigation Rules and Regulations Handbook
U.S. Coast Guard
The Navigation Rules & Regulations Handbook supersedes Commandant Instruction M16672.2D This edition includes LNM 39-15 and NTM 41-15 33 CFR 83.01(g) requires: "The operator of each self-propelled vessel 12 meters or more in length shall carry, on board and maintain for ready reference, a copy of these Rules."
American Merchant Ships
1850-1900
Frederick C. Matthews
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