The Walker Island, sometimes also Walker's Island, is a

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

located in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

, lying off the northwest coast of

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

, Australia. The island, separated from the Tasmanian mainland by a highly tidal area known as

Robbins Passage The Robbins Passage and Boullanger Bay Important Bird Area is a 238 km2 tract of land at the North West Tasmania, western end of the north coast of Tasmania, south-eastern Australia. It comprises extensive areas of intertidal mudflats and ...

, lies north of the adjacent Robbins Island. Access to Walker Island is available via the Walker Island Airport. The island, together with the adjacent Robbins Island, has been privately owned by the Hammond family since 1961. In 2016 it was reported that the family graze approximately 7,000 head of

Wagyu Wagyu ( ja, 和牛, Hepburn: ''wagyū'', ) is the collective name for the four principal Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle derive from cross-breeding in the early twentieth century of native Japanese cattle with imported sto ...

cattle on both islands, and mainland Tasmania. HMAS ''Riawe'' had her commercial origins in the Robbins and Walker Islands prior to her 1942 requisition by the

Department of the Navy Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the ...

for duties with the Naval Auxiliary Patrol during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

See also

References

Further reading