The Judgement Rocks, part of the

Kent Group The Kent Group are a grouping of six granite islands located in Bass Strait, north-west of the Furneaux Group in Tasmania, Australia. Collectively, the group is comprised within the Kent Group National Park. The islands were named Kent's ...

, is a small unpopulated

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 un ...

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

and some associated bare rocks, located in the

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Bo ...

, lying off the north-east coast of

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

, between the

Furneaux Group The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of ...

and

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nea ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The islet and associated rocks are contained within the

Kent Group National Park Kent Group National Park is located in Bass Strait covering the Kent Group islands of Tasmania, Australia. The islands cover an area of while the marine reserve component of the national park which surrounds the islands cover . History and p ...

. The rock was 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 ut ...

"from its resemblance to an elevated seat"., entry for 8 February 1798.

Joanna Murray-Smith Joanna Murray-Smith (born 17 April 1962) is a Melbourne-based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist. Life and career Murray-Smith was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria; her father was the literary editor ...

's novel ''Judgement Rock'' is named for the rocks and set among the islands of the Kent Group.

Fauna

Recorded breeding

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

and

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

species include

fairy prion The fairy prion (''Pachyptila turtur'') is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of blue-grey upperparts with a prominent dark "M" marking and white underneath. The sexes are alike. This is a small prion of the low subantarctic and sub ...

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 re ...

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''), which ...

, and

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 fea ...

. The island hosts Tasmania's largest breeding colony of

Australian fur seal The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. ...

s, which also attracts visits by

killer whale The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pat ...

s. The only reptile present is the

metallic skink :''"Metallic skink" may also refer to the garden skink ( Lampropholis delicata)''. ''Carinascincus metallicus'', the metallic cool-skink or metallic skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to Australia, found in sout ...

.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features''. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart.

References

External links

* Islands of Northern Tasmania Protected areas of Tasmania Islands of Bass Strait {{Tasmania-geo-stub

Fauna

See also

References

External links