Nickname: Barrenjoey | |
---|---|
Location of Tenth Island off the coast of
Tasmania | |
Geography | |
Location | Bass Strait |
Coordinates | 40°56′S 146°59′E / 40.933°S 146.983°E |
Archipelago | Waterhouse Island Group |
Area | 900 m2 (9,700 sq ft) |
Administration | |
Australia | |
State | Tasmania |
Demographics | |
Population | uninhabited |
The Tenth Island, sometimes called Barrenjoey, part of the Waterhouse Island Group, is a 900-square-metre (9,700 sq ft) uninhabited granite islet and nature reserve, situated in Bass Strait, lying close to the north-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The islet has no vegetation and much of it is wave-washed in winter storms. [1] The Aboriginal name for the island is recorded as Roobala mangana. [2]
Other islands in the Waterhouse Group include
Ninth,
Maclean,
Waterhouse,
Little Waterhouse,
Baynes,
St Helens,
Foster,
Swan,
Little Swan,
Cygnet and
Paddys islands and
Bird Rock and
George Rocks islets.
[1]
The island is home to a significant breeding colony of Australian fur seals, with up to 400 pups born each year, though many drown in storms. black-faced cormorants also breed on the island and little penguins roost there. [1] [3]
In the waters surrounding Tenth Island, Therese Cartwright, aged 35 years and a mother of five children, was killed as a result of a human shark attack fatality on 5 June 1993 when a reportedly 5-metre (16 ft) long great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) attacked Cartwright while she was scuba diving at the seal colony. [4] [5]