The Nut is a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...

near the town of

Stanley, Tasmania Stanley is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-last major township on the north-west coast when travelling west, Smithton being the larger township in the Circular Head municipality. According to the , Stanley ...

. It is made of fragments of basaltic volcanic rock from a volcano that was active about 25–70 million years ago. It has an elevation of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

History

The areas around it are culturally significant to the local Tarkine Aboriginal people because of stone formations,

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s, quarries and artefact scatters near the area. The European discovery of the Nut was made by

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George ...

and

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 ...

when they circumnavigated

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in the sloop ''

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

''. The origins of its name are speculated to be from the Tasmanian Aboriginal name, "munatrik" (moo-nut-re-ker), or because explosives were unable to dent it during the construction of a

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

References

{{reflist Mountains of Tasmania