Pearson Isles (also called the Pearson Islands, Pearson Group and Pearson Archipelago) is an
island group
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
located in the
Australian state
The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...
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 ...
about to west south-west of
Cape Finniss
Cape Finniss (also spelt Cape Finnis) is a headland located at the southern extremity of Anxious Bay on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia about Points of the compass#32 cardinal points, Northwest by west of the town of Elliston ...
on the west coast of
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 aft ...
within the larger island group, the
Investigator Group
The Investigator Group is an archipelago in South Australia that consists of Flinders Island and five island groups located off the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It is named after by her commander, Matthew Flinders when he explore ...
. The group was discovered and named by
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...
on 13 February 1802. The group has four members -
Pearson Island
Pearson Island is an island located in the Australian state of South Australia within the Pearson Isles an island group located in the larger group known as the Investigator Group about southwest by west of Cape Finniss on the west coast of ...
, a pair of islands known as the
Veteran Isles and
Dorothee Island
Dorothee Island (french: Ile Dorothee) is an island in the Australian state of South Australia which is part of the Pearson Isles which itself is part of the larger island grouping known as the Investigator Group. It is located about west so ...
. The island group has enjoyed
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 starting in 1916 and since 2011, it has been part of the
Investigator Group Wilderness Protection Area
Investigator Group Wilderness Protection Area is a protected area in South Australia, located in the Investigator Group of islands off the west coast of Eyre Peninsula, between and south-west of Elliston.
It was proclaimed in August 2011 ...
. The island group is notable as a venue for scientific research.
Description
Generally
Pearson Isles is an island group located in waters from between to west south-west of Cape Finniss on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
[DMH, 1985, chart 38]
The group consists of the following islands in order of increasing distance from the Australian continental coastline - Pearson Island, Veteran Isles and Dorothee Island.
While Pearson Isles is the official name, the group is also known in some sources as the ”Pearson Islands”, the “Pearson Group” and the “Pearson Archipelago”.[Robinson et al, 1996, page 195][RSSA, 1971, page 124]
Pearson Island
Pearson Island is located about south west by west of Cape Finniss and about south west of Flinders Island.[ It consists of one land mass with two relatively smaller peaks rising out of the sea in an arc extending to the south east via a spit of rock connected to its most southerly point . The arc encloses a bay and a beach which are sheltered from weather both from the west and the south and which can be respectively used as an anchorage and as a landing point. The three parts of the island are informally referred to in one source respectively as the “north section”, the “middle section” and the “south section”.] The island has an area of .[Robinson et al, 1996, page 196] Its highest point is a feature called “Hill 781” with a height of above sea level. “Hill 781” and two other hills, “North Hill” and “East Hill”, which are both of a height greater than are located on the “north section” while the highest point on the remainder of the island is “South Hill” on the “south section”with a height of .[Robinson et al, 1996, page 31]
Veteran Isles
Veteran Isles is a pair of peaks located about south of Pearson Island and about apart. The northern island rises to a height of above sea level while the south island reaches a height of . One source reports a combined area of for both islands. The northern island “retains pockets of granitic soil’ that supports a shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
on its upper levels while southern island is bare of soil and therefore vegetation due to wave action. As 1996, access via boat was suggested as being “hazardous” due to the combination of a steep shoreline and sea conditions that need to be calm.[Robinson et al, 1996, page 200][RAN, 1979]
Dorothee Island
Dorothee Island which is located about south of Pearson Island has an area of about . The island has undergone extensive erosion with the result that a large crevasse bisects the island in the east-west direction, forming a pair of peaks. The north side reaches a height of while the south side reaches a height of . The top of both peaks each “retains some pockets of soil, predominantly coarse and granitic but with small patches of calcareous sandy loam”. The island’s east coast is reported in 1996 as providing “enough shelter to allow a cautious landing in all but severe swells”.[Robinson et al, 1996, page 201]
Formation, geology and oceanography
The Pearson Isles were formed about 10,500 years ago following the rise of sea levels at the start of the Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
.
The four members of the Pearson Isles are the peaks of an inselberg
An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
remaining after its gradual concealment by sea level rise. The inselberg is composed of a basement rock
In geology, basement and crystalline basement are crystalline rocks lying above the mantle and beneath all other rocks and sediments. They are sometimes exposed at the surface, but often they are buried under miles of rock and sediment. The baseme ...
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 undergro ...
belonging to a group of rocks associated with an event known as the Hiltaba Suite
The Gawler Craton covers approximately 440,000 square kilometres of central South Australia. Its Precambrian crystalline basement crustal block was cratonised ca. 1550–1450 Ma. Prior to 1550 Ma the craton comprised a number of active Prot ...
(part of the Gawler Range Volcanics
The Gawler Craton covers approximately 440,000 square kilometres of central South Australia. Its Precambrian crystalline basement crustal block was cratonised ca. 1550–1450 Ma. Prior to 1550 Ma the craton comprised a number of active Prot ...
), which is a series of volcanic events occurring about 1,590 million years ago within the area now covered in part by the western Eyre Peninsula, the adjacent interior of the Australian continent and the part of the Great Australian Bight immediately adjoining the western coast of Eyre Peninsula. Landforms on each of the islands are dominated firstly by the granite basement rock and its jointing, and secondly by rock and erosive processes associated with the marine environment. The former class of landforms include “massive curvilinear sheets” on the lower level of the islands and boulders “derived from the breakdown of the sheets” on the upper levels of the islands. The second class of landforms included “remnants of aeolianite
Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...
-old coastal foredune deposits” associated with a time when the sea level was lowered.
The waters around the Pearson Isles fall to water depths greater than within from the coastline of Pearson Island and to the south and west sides of Dorothee Island.[
]
History
European discovery and use
European discovery
Flinders discovered and named the island group on Saturday, 13 February 1802. On the same day, Flinders also nominated it as one of the constituent parts of the Investigator Group.[Flinders, 1814 (1966), page 223][Robinson et al, 1996, page 194] Flinders described the island group as follows:To the south-west I distinguished several small islands, of which the northernmost and largest is remarkable from two high and sharp-pointed peaks upon it, lying in latitude 33° 57' and longitude 134° 13'. This cluster, as it appeared to be, received the name of Pearson's Isles; but it is possible that what seemed at a distance to be divided into several may form two or three larger islands, or even be one connected land.
Nomenclature
Flinders never advised the source of the name Pearson.[RSSA, 1971, pages 121-122] At least five possible sources have been suggested for the island group’s name. The first is that it was named after Flinders’ brother-in-law. However Flinders’ sister did not marry Mr Pearson until 1806, which would suggest that the island group may not have been named until Flinders’ return to the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in 1810.[ The second is that it was named after the mother of Flinders’ ]second-in-command
Second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is a title denoting that the holder of the title is the second-highest authority within a certain organisation.
Usage
In the British Army or Royal Marines, the second-in-command is the deputy commander of a unit, ...
, Robert Merrick Fowler
Vice-Admiral Robert Merrick Fowler (1778 – 25 May 1860) was an officer of the Royal Navy notable for his service as the second-in-command to Matthew Flinders on HMS '' Investigator '' from 1801 to 1803 and for his involvement in Battle ...
, whose maiden name is Pearson. This is the source that is cited by the South Australian government
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
.[ The third is ]Sir Richard Pearson
Sir Richard Pearson (1731–1806) was a British naval officer who was captain of the ship HMS Serapis (1779), HMS ''Serapis'' during the American Revolution.
As a lieutenant in the East Indies he did well during the Seven Years' War, where he ...
, a Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer notable for his role in the Battle of Flamborough Head
The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between a combined Franco-American squadron, led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones, and two British e ...
during the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.[ The fourth which appears in two South Australian government texts is the maiden name of his brother-in-law's mother.][DEH, 2006, page 5][ The fifth is the maiden name of his brother-in-law's mother where Robert Merrick Fowler is reported as being Flinders’ brother-in-law. However, this source is not supported by biographic information published about both Flinders and Fowler.][Manning, 2006, page 334]
The Baudin expedition when it visited later in 1802 proposed the following names. Baudin proposed the name “Les Enfans (sic) Perdus” which translates as “The Lost Children” while Freycinet’s chart uses the name “Is du Veteran” (also spelt “Iles du Veteran” ( eng, Veteran Isles)). Also, the name “Ile Dorothee” ( eng, Dorothee Island) is reported as being proposed by Freycinet for one of the islands within the group.[Manning, 2006, pages 131 & 435]
The anglicised versions of “Iles du Veteran” and “Ile Dorothee” were officially adopted by the South Australian government in 1969 for the three smaller members of the island group in response to the following recommendation made by the Nomenclature Committee within the then Department of Lands in 1965:[RSSA, 1971, page 121]The Committee recommends the adoption of the names " Veteran Isles" for the two small islands in the Pearson Islands and "Dorothee Island
Dorothee Island (french: Ile Dorothee) is an island in the Australian state of South Australia which is part of the Pearson Isles which itself is part of the larger island grouping known as the Investigator Group. It is located about west so ...
" for the southernmost island in this group. It is with some reservations that the Committee makes this recommendation as these names were first used on the chart of Captain Baudin's voyage prepared by F Peron and L de Freycinet and difficulty is experienced in relating islands shown in this chart to present day Admiralty Charts but as these names do not appear on modern charts this recommendation is a means of perpetuating them in the general area of the first use'.
Agricultural and other economic use
Pearson Island was briefly used for the grazing
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
of sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
in the 19th century by Anton Schlink, who had leased nearby Flinders Island
Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colo ...
for the same purpose, with unsuccessful results due to the island’s “unfavourable, rocky and dry nature” and difficulties with stock management.
The waters around the island group have been used for commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...
, recreational fishing
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
and recreational diving
Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of r ...
.
Scientific research
The Pearson Isles with particular emphasis on Pearson Island have been the subject of scientific interest since the early twentieth century in respect to its geology, its ecology and its terrestrial and marine flora and fauna. The Isles are an attractive destination for scientists because of their relative remoteness, the relatively low human impact and the absence of introduced pests.
Navigation aid
A navigation aid
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
has been located on the middle section of Pearson Island since 1968. It consists of a high tower with a group flashing light placed at a height of above sea level.[
]
Protected areas status
The Pearson Isles first received 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 on 27 July 1916 as part of a bird protection district declared under the ''Birds Protection Act 1900'' and the ''Animals Protection Act 1912'' to protect the population of black-footed rock wallaby living on Pearson island.
The Pearson Isles were subsequently proclaimed as a fauna conservation reserve under the ''Crown Lands Act 1966'' on 16 March 1967.
The island group and other adjoining islands became part of the Investigator Group Conservation Park .
__NOTOC__
Investigator Group Conservation Park was a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on islands within the Investigator Group of islands off the west coast of Eyre Peninsula about north-west of the state ca ...
proclaimed under the ''National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972
Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...
'' in 1972 “to protect delicate island ecology and Australian sea lion and New Zealand fur seal haul-out areas”. On 25 August 2011, it was one of the island groups excised from the Investigator Group Conservation Park to form the Investigator Group Wilderness Protection Area.[DEH, 2006, page 6][WAC, 2013, pages 16-17]
Since 2012, the waters adjoining the Pearson Isles have been part of a sanctuary zone in the Investigator Marine Park __NOTOC__
Investigator Marine Park is a marine protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's coastal waters in its west adjoining the west coast of Eyre Peninsula and islands in the Investigator Group respective ...
.[DEWNR, 2012, page 22 of 26]
See also
*List of islands of Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
Largest islands
The islands larger than are:
* Tasmania (Tas) ;
* Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT ...
* List of archipelagos
*Investigator Islands Important Bird Area
The Investigator Group is an archipelago in South Australia that consists of Flinders Island and five island groups located off the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It is named after by her commander, Matthew Flinders when he explor ...
Citations and references
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson Isles
Islands of South Australia
Uninhabited islands of Australia
Great Australian Bight