Liguanea Island facts for kids
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Australia
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Liguanea Island is a special granite island in South Australia. No one lives on it. It's located about 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) south of Cape Carnot. This cape is at the southern, central tip of the Eyre Peninsula.
The island is about 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) long. It covers an area of 180 hectares (445 acres). Its highest point is about 43 meters (141 feet) above sea level. Liguanea Island is part of the beautiful Lincoln National Park. It sits in the huge Great Australian Bight.
Discovering Liguanea Island
A famous British explorer named Matthew Flinders first named Liguanea Island. He did this on February 18, 1802. The very next day, Flinders named a nearby piece of land Cape Wiles. He named it after a good friend from a place called Liguanea in Jamaica. In Flinders' old maps, you can see a drawing of the cape and the island. It shows how they looked from his ship, The Investigator.
In the same year, another explorer, a Frenchman named Nicolas Baudin, also named the island. He called it Ile Guyton.
In 1905, a ship called Governor Musgrave visited Liguanea Island. The crew was looking for pieces of a lost ship, the Loch Vennachar. A reporter on the ship wrote about the island. He said it was a "large bare block of forbidding granite." He meant it was a big, rocky island that looked a bit scary.
In 1914, some animals were brought to the island. These included a male deer (buck) and two female deer (does).
Protecting the Island's Wildlife
Liguanea Island became a protected area on March 16, 1967. This means it was set aside to keep its plants and animals safe. It was protected under a law called the Crown Lands Act.
On May 26, 1980, scientists visited the island. They collected information about the different kinds of plants and animals living there. They found several interesting species. These included the Australian sea-lion, the little penguin, the Cape Barren goose, and the bush rat.
A survey in 1996 confirmed something very important. Little penguins were breeding on Liguanea Island! This shows the island is a vital home for these amazing birds.
