TheBackstairs Passage is astrait inSouth Australia lying betweenFleurieu Peninsula on theAustralian mainland andDudley Peninsula on the eastern end ofKangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line fromCape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula toKangaroo Head (west ofPenneshaw) on Kangaroo Island.[2]The Pages, a group of islets, lie in the eastern entrance to the strait. About 14 km wide at its narrowest, it was formed by the rising sea around 13,000 years ago, at the end of thePleistocene era, when it submerged the land connecting what is now Kangaroo Island with the Fleurieu Peninsula. Backstairs Passage was named byMatthew Flinders whilst he and his crew onHMSInvestigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia in 1802.
Backstairs Passage was named byMatthew Flinders on 7 April 1802 whilst he and his crew on HMSInvestigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia. Flinders noted that this body of water is separate fromInvestigator Strait and that "it forms a private entrance, as it were, to the two gulphs; and I named it Back-stairs Passage."[3]
The coastal processes occurring inGulf St Vincent and along the southern coastline ofFleurieu Peninsula are complex. Due to the relatively shallowGulf St Vincent joining the Southern Ocean through the deeper Backstairs Passage, this narrow and dangerous channel is subjected to strong currents, heavy tidal swells and steep breaking seas.[4]
In the early years following European colonisation many of the nearly fifty vessels wrecked in the hazardous waters around Kangaroo Island were lost while crossing Backstairs Passage to and from the mainland. This led to South Australia's first lighthouse, theSturt Light, being built in 1851 atCape Willoughby on the eastern tip of Kangaroo Island.[5] In addition to vessels navigating the treacherous crossing to and from the mainland, sailing ships (commonly woodenbarques) making use of theRoaring Forties trade winds on voyaging to South Australia could be propelled by the prevailing winds into Backstairs Passage, or as farBass Strait.[6]
On 6 June 1995, South Australianmarathon swimmer Andrew Martin completed the first recorded solo crossing of Backstairs Passage, covering the 14.25 km distance in 4 hours 31 minutes 30 seconds.[7]
^Australian Hydrographic Service; Cooper, A. H (2006),Australia - south coast, Port Adelaide to Backstairs Passage (Notices to Mariners inclusive to 2006 ed.), Published by the Australian Hydrographic Service, 28th May 1958, under the superintendence of Commander A.H. Cooper, R.A.N,archived from the original on 25 February 2024, retrieved12 April 2017
^"Kangaroo Island Heritage Survey 1991"(PDF).Department of Environment: heritage surveys. Government of South Australia.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved12 April 2017.
^"Bound for South Australia".State Library of South Australia: South Australian State Records. Government of South Australia.Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved12 April 2017.
^Bye, John A. T. and Carvalho Junior, Oldemar.The first recorded successful cross Backstairs Passage swim: research note [Andrew Martin's swim is a unique entry in the annals of South Australian exploration.] [online].South Australian Geographical Journal, Vol. 95, 1996: 70-74.
^"Baudin Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved18 June 2014.
^"Lashmar Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved18 June 2014.
Boating Industry Association of South Australia (BIA); South Australia. Department for Environment and Heritage (2005),South Australia's waters an atlas & guide, Boating Industry Association of South Australia,ISBN978-1-86254-680-6
South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors (1985),The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs, Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia (DMH),ISBN978-0-7243-7603-2
Coroneos, Cosmos (1997),Shipwrecks of Encounter Bay and Backstairs Passage, Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology & Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology.
