MACQUARIE ISLAND

Macquarie Island lies about 1500 km. southeast of Tasmania. It was “discovered” in 1810 by an Australian on the hunt for new sealing grounds, but it first appeared about 600,000 years ago. At 34 km. length, 5 km. width, and 433 m. height at the highest point, it’s not huge—but it is still rising. In the recent past it's experienced a significant earthquake or two. Though Mcquarie is closer to New Zealand than any other land mass, it has been politically part of Tasmania since 1900. In 1978 it became a state reserve and now is a World Heritage Area and an International Biosphere Reserve. The Australian Antarctic Division maintains a research station there, and parks people carry out ongoing projects. Check out a view of the island and the research if you want at http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=7151

No, I haven’t been there. But Macquarie is a presence here in Hobart.

In the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, where I have been (and this posting might duplicate some of my earlier one), the Subantarctic Plant House is modeled on Mcquarie Island. In it, the near shore zone, coastal slopes, rock stacks, mires, herbfields and short grasslands, and feldmark terraces are all replicated by plantings. Weather conditions on the island—its average daily temperature is 4.8 degrees C and it rains pretty much daily—are simulated so as you walk through, cold winds spring up and suddenly lower the temperature, then wet fog or rain spray rolls across the space dampening your face. Sounds of the sea and seabird calls complete the sensory experience. Given the weather conditions I was surprised at the variety and lushness of the plants. A panoramic mural by local artist John Lendis shows the island’s terrain so you can imagine you’re staring across it to the immense ocean.

Macquarie is a breeding island for many seabirds, including four different albatrosses and four penguin species. During the 19th century, as seemed to happen on every island where Europeans stopped, various animals were introduced. (Often the idea behind animal introductions was to establish food stores for sealing, whaling, shipping parties who would stop on long voyages to replenish supplies.) Large feral populations of cats, rabbits, rats, mice, and weka (a flightless rail from New Zealand) developed and these have caused serious damage to both island ecology and seabird habitat. Beginning in the 1970s a feral animal eradication program was undertaken by the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service that successfully got rid of cats and the weka. However, rabbits and rodents are still an enormous problem, and currently a large eradication program aimed at these animals is in the planning stage here.

At the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery there is an excellent exhibition on the Island, a part of the Antarctic Gallery. In it the geology of the island development is very clearly explained, and the plant and animal life is delineated. The history of its exploration is also outlined. More about that in another posting, perhaps, when I find my notes …