Macquarie Island

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Macquarie Island


State Party = AUS
Type = Natural
Criteria = vii, viii
ID = 629
Region = Asia-Pacific
Year = 1997
Session = 21st
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/629

Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between Australia and Antarctica. 54°37'53"S, 158°52'15"E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage site. It was a part of Esperance Municipality until 1993, when the municipality was merged with other municipalities to Huon Valley. Ecologically, it is part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) maintains a permanent base, the Macquarie Island Station, on the island. The base's residents, the island's only inhabitants, range in numbers from 20 to 40 people throughout the year.

History

The Australian/Briton Frederick Hasselborough discovered the island accidentally in July 1810 when looking for new sealing grounds. He claimed Macquarie Island for Britain and annexed it to the colony of New South Wales in 1810. The island took its name after Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who explored the area for Alexander I of Russia, produced the first map of Macquarie Island. Bellingshausen landed on the island on November 28, 1820, defined its geographical position and traded his rum and food for Macquarie Island's fauna with the sealers.

In 1890 New South Wales transferred the island to Tasmania, which leased it to Joseph Hatch (1837 - 1928) between 1902 and 1920 for his oil industry based on harvesting penguins.

Between 1911 and 1914, the island became a base for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson. George Ainsworth operated a meteorological station between 1911 and 1913, followed by Harold Power (1913 until 1914) and by Arthur Tulloch from 1914 until its shutdown in 1915. In 1933 the authorities declared the island a wildlife sanctuary and eventually transferred it to the Commonwealth of Australia under the administration of the Australian Antarctic Territory on December 26, 1947. The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) established its expedition headquarters on May 25, 1948 on Macquarie Island.

On December 23, 2004 an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter magnitude scale (one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded) rocked the island, but caused little damage. [Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1272000.htm |title=Antarctic expeditioners unscathed by earthquake |work=News Online |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2004-12-24 |accessdate=2007-04-05]

On April 12, 2008, a 7.1 earthquake on the Macquarie Fault occurred near Macquarie Island. [ [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008qtae.php USGS Report] ]

Geography

The island has an approximate length of 34 km and a width of 5 km, with an area of 128 km². It sits atop Macquarie Ridge, which extends north and south. Also on Macquarie Island are two minor groups of islets, Judge and Clerk Islets, coord|54|21|S|159|01|E|, 14 km to the north, and 0.2 km² in area, and Bishop and Clerk Islets, coord|55|03|S|158|46|E|, 34 km to the south, and 0.6 km² in area.

Bishop and Clerk Islets mark the southernmost point of Australia (including islands).

Macquarie Island lies atop a geographic feature named for the island, the Macquarie Ridge. This seafloor ridge is aligned along the eastern margin of the tectonic plate boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate.

In the 19th Century Emerald Island was supposed to exist south of Macquarie Island.

Fauna and flora

Fauna found on the island include: Subantarctic Fur Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals, New Zealand Fur Seals and Southern Elephant Seals - over 80,000 individuals of this species. Royal Penguins breed only on this island; King Penguins, Southern Rockhopper Penguins and Gentoo penguins also breed here.

Ecological balance

Feral cats introduced to the island by whalers in the 19th century have had a devastating effect on the native seabird population, with an estimated 60,000 seabird death per year. In June 2000, the last of the nearly 2500 cats were culled in an effort to save the seabirds. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/22/wcull22.xml Cull upsets island's ecological balance - Telegraph ] ]

Although seabirds numbers began to rise initially, the removal of the cats caused an explosion in the number of rats and rabbits which together are causing widespread environmental damage. The rabbits too were an introduced species; by sealers in the 1800s as a food source and rapidly multiplied before numbers were reduced to about 10,000 in the early 1980s when myxomatosis was introduced. Rabbit numbers have now exploded to around 100,000 on the island. [Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687413.htm |title=Fears for sub-antarctic island plagued by rabbits |work=News Online |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2006-07-15 |accessdate=2007-04-05] The rodents feed on young chicks while rabbits nibbling on the grass layer has led to soil erosion and cliff collapses, destroying seabird nests. Large portions of the Macquarie Island bluffs are eroding as a result. In September 2006 a large landslip at Lusitania Bay, on the eastern side of the island, partially destroyed an important penguin breeding colony. Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service attributed the landslip to a combination of heavy spring rains and severe erosion caused by rabbits. [Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1770316.htm |title=Rabbits blamed for penguin deaths in landslide |work=News Online |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2006-10-21 |accessdate=2007-04-05]

There are currently plans to conduct the largest eradication program ever by mass baiting the island similar to an eradication program on New Zealand's Campbell Island, but there was an argument over which government, state or federal, will pay the estimated $24 million cost.cite news | first=Andrew | last=Darby | title=Up against rats, rabbits and costs | date=2007-04-11 | url= http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/up-against-rats-rabbits-and-costs/2007/04/11/1175971183257.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 | publisher =The Sydney Morning Herald | accessdate = 2007-04-11] On 4 June 2007 a media release by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull, announced that the Australian and Tasmanian Governments had reached an agreement to jointly fund the eradication of rodent pests, including rabbits, to protect Macquarie Island's World Heritage values.cite news | first=Malcolm | last=Turnbull | title=Agreement to eradicate rabbits on Macquarie Island | date=2007-06-07 | url= http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/env/2007/pubs/mr04jun07.pdf | publisher =Australian Government | accessdate = 2007-06-12] It is expected to take up to seven years. [ [http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/macquarie/rabbitsfaq.html Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania - Plan for the Eradication of Rabbits and Rodents on Macquarie Island] ]

Gallery

References

* [http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_15/rsnz_15_00_006250.html Macquarie Island, an 1882 paper in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand"]
* [http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_27/rsnz_27_00_004370.html Macquarie Island, an 1894 paper in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand"]

ee also

* Administrative Heads of Macquarie Island
* List of islands of Australia
* List of sub-antarctic islands
* List of antarctic and sub-antarctic islands

External links

* [http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=7151 Macquarie Island Station] (Australian Antarctic Division)
* [http://environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/macquarie/index.html World heritage listing for Macquarie Island]
* [http://www.aad.gov.au/asset/webcams/macca/default.asp Macquarie Island Station webcam]
* [http://www.ga.gov.au/education/facts/images/macquarie_island.jpgA picture of Macquarie Island]
* [http://www.intermagnet.org/photos/mcq.jpgA picture of Macquarie Island]
* [http://www.odp.usyd.edu.au/odp_CD/computer/concepts/ozex/macq.html Macquarie Island oceanic crust]
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an20037022-46 A picture of Macquarie Island (historical heritage - Remnants of seal hunting)]