Picnic Island is a small, privately owned, rocky island, with an area of about one

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

, part of the Schouten Island Group, lying close to the eastern coast of

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

near the

Freycinet Peninsula The Freycinet Peninsula is a large peninsula located on the eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The peninsula is located north of Schouten Island and is contained within the Freycinet National Park. The locality of Freycinet is in the local go ...

. It is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

overlying

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 under ...

.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania's Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features''. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. Picnic Island was put up for sale in 2010 with an asking price of A$500,000 – A$1 million after the property developer vendor had bought it in 2005 for A$65,000. In November 2020, travel restrictions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

had been a "big hit" to the island's accommodation business, which the operator said would normally be about half from the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

market and a quarter each from Sydney and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. Discounts were offered to local Tasmanians to keep the business going.

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 enviro ...

species are little penguin and short-tailed shearwater. The spotted skink is present.

References

External links

* Islands of South East Tasmania Private islands of Tasmania {{Tasmania-geo-stub