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34 www.themercury.com.au WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010

MACQUARIE ISLAND King . EXPLORE ’S SOUTHERNMOST DEPENDENCY, HALF WAY TO

Why is Macquarie Island Things to explore: important? • When was the Macquarie Island MORE than 1500km south-east of Tasmania Commonwealth Marine Reserve lies a small island which is important in proclaimed? the history, geoscience and ecology of the www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ . Geologically the island is macquarie/history.html of great interest, as it lies on a rare uplifted • If you visited the Macquarie Island portion of the sea bed at the edge of two Marine Reserve, what activities could tectonic plates of the earth’s crust. The island you do? What is not allowed? also acts as a major barrier to the www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ Circumpolar Current, the earth’s largest and macquarie/activities.html most important oceanic current, which fl ows eastward about the Antarctic landmass. Pests on Macquarie Island This impacts on the balance of oceanic and Macquarie Island has been subject to the atmospheric heat and chemical exchange, infl uence of many introduced pests, and which in turn has an effect on the southern some native species are either extinct or hemisphere’s weather patterns. Because endangered as a result. Early visitors reported of the island’s special location it is an ideal large numbers of parakeets but these seem monitoring location for meteorological now to be extinct, as does another bird, activities. Macquarie Island experiences the Macquarie Island . Cats, mice and frequent earth tremors and is the site of an were probably escapees from visiting important seismological observatory. ships, while other species were deliberately • Blue petrel This may have been from Polynesian or other introduced. Things to explore: • Black-browed albatross earlier visitors. The following year another The weka or wood-hen was introduced by • Why is Macquarie Island nick-named • shipwreck was found high up on the grass on sealers around 1867 and this is likely to have “The Sponge”? Bishop and Clerk Islands to the south. been a major contributor to the extinction www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=29582 Things to explore: of the Macquarie Island rail. were • Why was Macquarie Island declared a • Why is the protection of the feeding Things to explore: introduced by Elder & Co. around 1877 and World Heritage Area in 1997? and migratory areas of these species of • After whom did Hasselborough name there was rejoicing that their numbers grew www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/ international signifi cance? Macquarie Island? so quickly. The Jessie Niccol in December world/macquarie/index.html www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=29581 1877 left behind fi ve donkeys, goats and • What do seismologists study? macquarie/features.html • What does a brig look like? How many pigs and the early ANARE expeditions used http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/ • How far can a wandering albatross fl y in sails does it carry? horses. These larger species were not well info-gen/seismolog-eng.php a day? www.ladynelson.org.au/ adapted to the environment and quickly • Where was the most recently measured www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/ • Which animals on Macquarie Island disappeared. earthquake in the world? wildlife/birds/albatross.shtml were targeted for early commercial Cats and wekas were successfully www.ga.gov.au/bin/listQuakes • Find a map showing the location of exploitation? What were the results? eradicated, but in recent years increasing Macquarie Island. www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=29579 numbers of rabbits and rodents on Macquarie www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ Island have had devastating effects on the macquarie/maps/regional.html native and fl ora. A project to eradicate these pests has been developed to restore Macquarie Island’s biodiversity and natural When was Macquarie Island systems as much as possible. discovered? During Captain James Cook’s second voyage in 1773 he must have sailed quite close to Macquarie Island but missed seeing it, possibly due to the low cloud which often hangs over the island. Discovery of Macquarie Island is attributed to Captain Frederick Hasselborough of the brig Perseverance who sighted it on July 11, 1810, during a sealing voyage out of Sydney. Hasselborough was not the fi rst visitor though – he reported seeing Who owns Macquarie Island? a wreck “of a large vessel of ancient design”. A dispute between the colonies of Tasmania What lives there? and about sovereignty over Macquarie Island is also home to vast the island was resolved in Tasmania’s quantities of Southern Ocean birds and favour, and Macquarie Island is now part mammals, and scientists use the island to of the Huon Valley Municipality. Macquarie monitor many marine animals and birds. A Island was an important part of the fi rst Things to explore: number of species found in the Macquarie Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911- • Dogs have played an important part Island region are under local or global threat 14) and the Australian National Antarctic in the pest eradication program on and most of these species require extremely Research Expedition station was established Macquarie Island. What were they large migratory or foraging ranges. These there in 1948. It is still an active base for the trained to do? species include: Australian Antarctic Program. Commercial www.abc.net.au/news/ exploitation of the island fi nished in 1920, stories/2009/09/04/2677190.htm • Subantarctic and in 1933 a Wildlife Reserve was created. • Find out the latest news on the • Antarctic tern The Macquarie Island Conservation Area eradication project: • Fairy prion (southern) was created in 1971, under the control of www.parks.tas.gov.au/index. • Grey petrel Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service. aspx?base=13001

An initiative of The Royal Society of Tasmania in partnership with Mercury NIE. Compiled by Mary Koolhof. Download previous activity pages from: www.mercurynie.com.au Specialist information provided by Professor Patrick Quilty and John Williamson. Images courtesy of Professor Quilty.