 Map of the Hunter Island Group, Three Hummock Island is shown in green | |
  Three Hummock Island | |
| Etymology | Three prominent hills: North, Middle and South Hummock |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Location | Bass Strait |
| Coordinates | 40°26′24″S144°54′36″E / 40.44000°S 144.91000°E /-40.44000; 144.91000 |
| Archipelago | Hunter Group |
| Area | 70 km2 (27 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 237 m (778 ft) |
| Highest point | South Hummock |
| Administration | |
| State | Tasmania |
| Largest settlement | Chimney Corner |
| Additional information | |
| Official website | threehummockisland |
TheThree Hummock Island, part of theHunter Island Group, is a 70-square-kilometre (27 sq mi)graniteisland, located in theBass Strait nearKing Island, lying off the north-west coast ofTasmania, Australia.[1]
The island is named after its three most prominent hills, North, Middle and South Hummock, the latter being the highest, with an elevation of 237 metres (778 ft)above mean sea level. From the mid-19th century until the mid-1970s, most of the island was subject to apastoral lease, allowing farming and grazing to take place.
The focus of human settlement on the island is thehomestead at Chimney Corner at the westernmost point. There is an automatedlighthouse at Cape Rochon in the north-east, as well as roads, threeairstrips, fencing and awharf. Seasonalmuttonbirding occurs in March and April.[2]
Much of the island is composed of dense scrub, dominated byLeptospermum scoparium,Melaleuca ericifolia andBanksia marginata, while 25% of the area is covered byEucalyptus nitida woodland.[2]
The island forms part of theHunter Island Group Important Bird Area.[3] Breedingseabirds andshorebirds includelittle penguins,short-tailed shearwaters,Pacific gulls,pied oystercatchers,sooty oystercatchers andhooded plover. Mammals include the introducedeastern grey kangaroo,feral cats andhouse mice.Feralsheep were recorded in a 1999 survey.Tiger snakes are also present.[2]
Elias Albert Warne acquired a lease over the island in 1926. His son, Cecil Vernon Warne, arrived fromMelbourne in February 1926, aboard theHillsmeads, bringing the first 500 sheep to the Island. During the following weeks, three more shipments arrived, making a total of 2,200 sheep. Some cattle were still on the island, having been left by previous lessors. They were rounded up, and some sold with a bull purchased from Hunter Island. Fences were repaired.[citation needed]
Two years previously, Cecil Warne had married Dulcie Ruby Trevena inBirchip, Victoria. Dulcie had remained in Melbourne for the birth of their first son, Colin Robert, on 8 April.
Cecil returned to Melbourne for the birth and came back with some family members. He set about constructing a shearing shed and sheep pens, and even constructed a cement-linedsheep dip, which still exists under a boxthorn hedge.[citation needed]
The family lived in a house built in 1910 and Dulcie baked bread in the big wood oven, made butter and sold some at times. An older house, built c.1850, was recycled for timber and nails to build the shearing shed. Tracks were cleared around the island, with only transport being horses pulling a sled for new fence posts, tools and, sometimes, family for a weekend picnic.
On 2 September, shearers arrived and helped with final work on the sheep dip. They spent almost five weeks until all sheep were shorn and dipped, with 48 bales of wool sent off to market aboard theCoomonderry. During their first year (1926) they were able to send to market the following: cattle 277, sheep 704, butter 9 boxes, wool 48 bales.[citation needed]
Cecil and Dulcie left the island in 1929 and went back to farming inthe Mallee. Elias and other members of the Warne family remained on the island looking after the stock. During 1931, Elias advertised the island for stockagistment. In 1933, an auction was held for a new 16-year lease and the Nichols Family commenced their time on the island.[citation needed]
Bill and Amelia ("Ma") Nichols leased Three Hummock Island from 1933 till 1950, grazing cattle and sheep.[4] They were also involved in fishing and muttonbirding. Over the years they owned several ships, includingLady Jean,Lady Flinders, andJean Nichols, which were used to carry cargo and passengers to and from the Bass Strait islands and to Melbourne and Launceston. They built up a small community of workers on the island, including some of their relations. One of these workers was Peggy Puckett, from Stanley. Her story is told inA Walk Along the Shore[5] in which she describes life on the island with the Nichols family during the six years she lived with them, from 1937 to 1943. Mrs Nichols named "Peg's Paddock" after her, mentioned in bothA Walk Along the Shore and Eleanor Alliston'sEscape to An Island.
The Nichols family left the island in 1950 and the Alliston family arrived in 1951.[4]
Eleanor Alliston wroteEscape to an Island andIsland Affair, about the life of her family on Three Hummock Island. The two books tell the story of how the Alliston family emigrated from England after the end ofWorld War II to start a new life alone on the island, in the hope of providing a better and different childhood for their children. The second book ends in 1984, the island having a population of two, the author and her husband. Their four children, who were brought up on the island, had left it, were married with families, having a total of ten grandchildren. In the 1990s, one of the Alliston children, Rob, returned to the island to run a tourist venture. The Alliston family sold the lease in 2006.
The bookIsland Affair contains mention ofGiuseppe Garibaldi's visit to the island in 1852 as a captain of the trading vesselCarmen, while in exile fromItaly.[6][7]
In 1978, the majority of the 7,400 hectares was declared a Nature Reserve, and in 2001 a State Reserve.[4] John and Beverley O'Brien lived on Three Hummock Island from 2009-2018, as managers.[8] Three Hummock Island now operates as aneco-tourism venture, with accommodation for up 14 people.
... we passed through Bass's Strait, between Australia and Van Diemen's Land. Touching at one of the Hunter Islands, to take in water, we found a small farm, lately deserted by an Englishman and his wife, on the death of his partner. This information we obtained from a board erected on the settler's grave, which set forth in brief the history of the little colony. "The husband and wife," said the inscription, "unable to bear the loneliness of the desert island, left it, and returned to Van Diemen.
