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About Flinders Island
Located 60 km off the north east tip of Tasmania and to the south east of Wilson's Promontory Victoria, Flinders Island is the largest of the Furneaux Group of islands which stretch across the eastern end of Bass Strait.
The islands were part of the land bridge which once joined Tasmania to the mainland. Bass Strait was formed as a result of the melting of ice after the last ice age leaving the mountain tops to form the present day chain of islands.
The islands were first identified by Europeans when Tobias Furneaux, the commander of Captain Cook's support ship sighted the islands in 1773. Following the 1797 wrecking of the trading ship the "Sydney Cove" on Preservation Island, the rescuers from Sydney reported large numbers of seals among the islands which led to the first settlement south of Sydney by sealers and exploration by Mathew Flinders.
Soon after the islands became home to the Straitsmen who lived by harvesting seals, wallabies and Short tailed Shearwaters (Mutton Birds) from the islands population of 18 million, which became a major export.
In 1833 Wybalenna Settlement on Flinders Island became home to some of the last of the Tasmanian Aborigines, until 1848 when it was closed and they were returned to Oyster Bay in Tasmania. Now the restored chapel and the cemetery remain as a tribute to the people who were settled here.
Today around 900 people live on the island, with farming and fishing being important industries. The farmers producing quality beef and lamb as well as clean fine wool and the fishermen harvesting crayfish, abalone, scallops and giant crabs.
A little over a third of the island is used for farmland, with the remainder being National Park, bush land, lagoons and coastal reserves, providing the visitor with a superb opportunity to explore and enjoy little changed natural setting with abundant wildlife, spectacular scenery and fascinating history.
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Walk on a beach where the only footprints are your own.
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