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]
Nickname: Barrenjoey | |
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![]() ![]() Tenth Island (Roobala mangana) Location of Tenth Island off the coast of Tasmania | |
Geography | |
Location | Bass Strait |
Coordinates | 40°56′S 146°59′E |
Archipelago | Waterhouse Island Group |
Area | 900 m2 (9,700 sq ft) |
Administration | |
Australia | |
State | Tasmania |
Demographics | |
Population | uninhabited |
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]
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