Greenly Island is an island in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

located in the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydro ...

about west-south-west of Point Whidbey on

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

. The island is uninhabited by humans and provides a haven for marine and terrestrial wildlife. The island and its intertidal zone constitute the

Greenly Island Conservation Park Greenly Island Conservation Park is a protected area associated with Greenly Island (South Australia), Greenly Island located off the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia about west of Coffin Bay, South Australia, Coffin Bay. It was ...

. Its adjacent waters are occasionally visited by fishermen targeting yellowtail kingfish.

Nomenclature

Greenly Island was named for Sir Isaac Coffin’s fiancée, Elizabeth Browne Greenly of Titley Court, by the British explorer

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland ...

on 16 February 1802.

Environment

Greenly Island is a large

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

dome with steep sides plunging vertically into deep water, split by two large

crevasses A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid p ...

which effectively break the island into three blocks. The top of the island is capped with Drooping Sheoak ( Allocasuarina verticillata) and Dryland Tea-tree (Melaleuca lanceolata) woodlands while the lower slopes have either a Coastal Tussock (Poa poiformis var. poiformis) grassland or a Marsh Saltbush (Atriplex paludosa var. cordata) shrubland. The main part of the island rises to the east to a steep peak of 230m.

Fauna

The island features haul-out areas for

Australian sea lion The Australian sea lion (''Neophoca cinerea''), also known as the Australian sea-lion or Australian sealion, is a species of sea lion that is the only endemic pinniped in Australia. It is currently monotypic in the genus '' Neophoca'', with the ...

and

New Zealand fur seal ''Arctocephalus forsteri'' (common names include the Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, or long-nosed fur seal) is a species of fur seal found mainly around southern Australia and New ...

. The Australian sea lion, previously known as a "hair seal" was observed by visitors to Greenly Island in 1948. Western blue groper and yellowtail kingfish are found in the waters off Greenly Island. The Tammar wallaby was introduced to Greenly Island (south) in 1905 to provide food for stranded sailors. Their impact on the vegetation is obvious in the marked difference between the north and south islands. Both northern and southern islands support high-density populations of bush rats. Birds recorded on Greenly Island include the Cape Barren goose,

white-faced heron The white-faced heron (''Egretta novaehollandiae'') also known as the white-fronted heron, and incorrectly as the grey heron, or blue crane, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, In ...

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the pl ...

, Australian raven,

Nankeen kestrel The nankeen kestrel (''Falco cenchroides''), also known as the Australian kestrel, is a raptor native to Australia and New Guinea. It is one of the smallest falcons, and unlike many, does not rely on speed to catch its prey. Instead, it simply pe ...

, white-bellied sea eagle,

sooty oystercatcher The sooty oystercatcher (''Haematopus fuliginosus'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird endemic to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. It prefers rocky coastlines, but will occasionally live in estuaries. All of its fe ...

welcome swallow The welcome swallow (''Hirundo neoxena'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It is a species native to Australia and nearby islands, and self-introduced into New Zealand in the middle of the twentieth century. It is very simila ...

silver gull The silver gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae'') is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus''), whi ...

Pacific gull The Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus'') is a very large gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a ...

rock parrot The rock parrot (''Neophema petrophila'') is a species of grass parrot native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1841, it is a small parrot long and weighing with predominantly olive-brown upperparts and more yellowish underparts. Its h ...

, little grassbird, red-capped robin,

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...

short-tailed shearwater The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (''Ardenna tenuirostris''; formerly ''Puffinus tenuirostris''), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in ...

, crested tern, fairy tern,

silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis'') is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all membe ...

and

little penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is a species of penguin from New Zealand. They are commonly known as little blue penguins or blue penguins owing to their slate-blue plumage and are also known by their Māori name . The Australian l ...

. Reptiles recorded on Greenly Island include the bull skink (''Egernia multiscutata'') and four-toed earless skink (''Hemiergis peronii''), southern four-toed slider (''Lerista dorsalis''), dwarf skink (''Menetia greyii''), Mallee snakeeye (''Morethia obscura'') and

marbled gecko ''Christinus'' is a genus of Gekkonidae geckos found in southern regions of Australia. It contains species and subspecies that are regionally termed as marbled geckos. The contrasted patterns of these geckos, marbling, are found in a variety of ...

(''Phyllodactylus marmoratus'').

Little penguins

The first fauna study of Greenly Island was conducted in 1948 and described the little penguins as "innumerable".Lindsay, H. A
"Unspoiled corner of original Australia"
''The Advertiser'', South Australia (1948-02-14). Retrieved 2014-03-18. The island was noted as a breeding site in a 1996 survey of South Australia's offshore islands. In 2004, the little penguin colony's population was estimated at 1,500 breeding birds.Wiebkin, A. S. (2011
Conservation management priorities for little penguin populations in Gulf St Vincent. Report to Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board.
South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2011/000188-1. SARDI Research Report Series No.588. 97pp.

Protected area status

Greenly Island first obtained

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

status as a fauna conservation reserve declared under the ''Crown Lands Act 1929-1966'' on 16 March 1967 . The fauna conservation reserve was reconstituted as the Greenly Island Conservation Park under the '' National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972'' in 1972.

References

{{Islands of South Australia , state=collapsed Islands of South Australia Great Australian Bight Uninhabited islands of Australia Penguin colonies