Nepean Island Reserve, Kingston, Norfolk Island.
S 29° 04.300 E 167° 57.850
58J E 788579 N 6780444
Nepean Island is located approximately 800m south of Norfolk Island, off the coast of Kingston. It is about 10 hectares in size with low coastal vegetation and coastal cliffs, an ideal habitat for a variety of sea and terrestrial birds.
Waymark Code: WMVXF2
Location: Norfolk Island
Date Posted: 06/07/2017
Views: 4
The Norfolk Island Group (which includes Norfolk Island and the smaller, uninhabited Nepean and Phillip Islands) is situated approximately half way along a submarine ridge that runs between New Caledonia and the north island of New Zealand. These islands are a remnant of a much larger landmass that developed on this submarine ridge between 2.3 and 3.1 million years ago (during the Pliocene) and are now the only emergent points along the Norfolk Ridge.
Unlike neighbouring Norfolk and Phillip Islands, Nepean Island is not volcanic in origin. Rather it has formed as a result of wind blown sandgrains that have been cemented together by dissolved lime derived from calcium rich sand. This process has resulted in a sand-formed limestone called aeolionitic calcarernite. This process occurred during periods of glaciation, the last of which ended approximately 12 000 years ago. Therefore the island is relatively recent in origin and as a result does not support a wide range of species.
The original vegetation of Nepean Island was different in both structure and species composition to that which exists today. Initially the island was covered in an open forest dominated by Norfolk Island pines ARAUCARIA HETEROPHYLLA with an understorey of coarse grasses such as sedges. This forest was completely cleared during the first period of penal settlement on Norfolk Island (1790 - 1814). As a result, the current the island vegetation consists of areas of low growing native coastal communities interspersed with patches of exotic species such as kikuyu and buffalo grass and several small and wind-pruned white oaks LAGUNARIA PATERSONIA.
Nepean Island is the main breeding site within the Norfolk Island Group for the masked booby SULA DACTYLATRA. The masked booby is one of eight seabird species known to breed on the island. Seven of these are protected under Commonwealth legislation, and three are also protected under International treaties.
Nepean Island supports populations of the nationally vulnerable nocturnal marbled gecko CHRISTINUS GUENTHERI. This species is no longer found on Norfolk Island but remains on Nepean Island mainly due to the absence of predation pressure from black rats. It is one of only two species of lizard to be found within the Norfolk Island Group.
Nepean Island is historically significant for its associations with quarrying and timber-getting during the Second Settlement period (1825-55). Remaining evidence in the form of a former quarry, stone steps, post holes and the treeless landscape reflect the labour-intensive tasks set as punishment for convicts during this period when Norfolk Island earned a reputation for cruelty and baseness.
Nepean Island also possesses important cultural values relating to Norfolk island's convict past. The First Settlement period at Norfolk began in 1788, and a mixed population of convicts and free settlers established various farms and exploited local resources (the native pine and flax plant having been an attraction to settlement in the first place). The island was abandoned in 1814. In 1825 the settlement was re-founded, and the Second Settlement was very different from the First, as it was a penitentiary for doubly convicted convicts. In this period Norfolk Island got its reputation for cruelty and baseness. This period concluded in 1855. The Third Settlement period (1856 to the present time) began with the arrival of the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island.
During the Second Settlement, Nepean Island was used for timber getting and the island's stone was quarried. Convicts worked at these tasks as part of their punishment. The extraction of salt from seawater, by boiling, was also apparently conducted on the island.
Remaining evidence of the logging and quarrying consists of the treeless landscape, and on the eastern side of the island a former quarry, a set of stone steps, and post holes which indicate either the site of a timber slide or derricks for the movement of felled timber and quarried stone. The quarry site remains as it was left at the end of the Second Settlement.
Information Source: Australian Heritage Database.
The closest place to view Nepean Island from Norfolk Is is off the Cemetery Bay coastline near the golf course, or take a walk along the beach near Lone Pine peninsula at Emily Bay, Kingston.
Commonwealth Heritage List
Class Natural
Legal Status Listed place (22/06/2004)
Place ID 105625
Place File No 9/00/001/0017
List: Commonwealth Heritage List
Place ID: 105625
Place File No: 9/00/001/0017
URL database reference: [Web Link]
Status:
Listed Place
Year built: 0
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