Geoffrey Chapman, a Ranger in the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service from 1969 until his retirement in 2001, has penned a number of compilations of the history of the islands of South Australia’s coast.

Photos, maps and extracts of text from other sources such as newspapers have been downloaded from the Internet. Any infringement of copyright is inadvertent. The author has generously allowed PaRC to publish the manuscripts under open access conditions. Any person who believes that their copyright has been infringed should contact PaRC. Also, the compilations have not yet been proofread to conform to PaRC’s house style.

 

St. Francis Island, is part of South Australia’s Nuyts Archipelago, was first named by Europeans in 1627 by François Thijssen, who charted it aboard the ‘t Gulden Zeepaert. It’s one of the earliest South Australian locations documented by Europeans.

St Peter’s Island is the second largest island in South Australia at about 13 km long. It was one of the first parts of South Australia to be discovered and named by Europeans, along with St Francis Island, mapped by Thijssen in 1627.

Althorpe Island, 96 ha, was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802. Its light was converted to automatic operation and demanned in 1991 and the island transferred from Commonwealth jurisdiction to South Australia.

Joseph Banks Islands Group consists of 21 islands about 20 km off the eastern coast of the Eyre Peninsula.

The Neptune Islands Group consist of two groups of islands located close to the entrance to Spencer Gulf. Captain Matthew Flinders in the Investigator named the islands after Neptune, god of the sea, on 21 February 1802.

Although a section of Wedge Island is privately owned, the western & southern area is a National Parks reserve. The goats, cats and other vermin have been removed over about 50 years and re-introduced wombats, wallabies and bettongs have successfully survived. There are about 6 holiday shacks – rarely visited – and at 2025 one person lives there part-time.

At 3925 ha, Thistle Island is the third largest off the South Australian coast.
Flinders Island of 3542 ha dominates the Investigator Group.