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King Island is one of the islands that make up the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is located in the Roaring Forties of Bass Strait, off the north-western tip of the main island of Tasmania, about half way between Tasmania and the mainland state of Victoria. The southernmost point is called Stokes Point and the northernmost point is called Cape Wickham. There are three small islands surrounding King Island, namely New Year Island and Christmas Island situated to the northwest, and a smaller island called Councillor Island to the east. King Island was named after Governor King of New South Wales, whose territory at the time included what is now Tasmania. The local government area of the island is King Island Council. The population in 2011 was 1,646.〔http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@nrp.nsf/lookup/LGA63410Main+Features12007-2011〕 == History == Captain Reed was the first European to discover King Island in 1799 while hunting seals in the schooner ''Martha''. Matthew Flinders’ first map of Van Diemen's Land and the Bass Strait,〔This map is held at the National Library Canberra〕 which was sent to England (before Flinders had left) and was published in June 1800, did not show King Island. However, before Flinders left Sydney for England in 1800, Reed had informed Flinders of the existence of the island. Flinders’ second map of Van Diemen’s Land and Bass’s Strait (properly finished en route to England) and published with his Observations〔Observations on the coast of Van Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait and its Islands, and on Parts of the coast of New South Wales-By Matthew Flinders 1801〕 in 1801 shows:〔common map dated 1798–99 and showing "land seen"〕
Although the impressive granite tower, Australia's tallest lighthouse,〔Ashworth, Susie; Bain, Carolyn; Smitz, Paul. ''Lonely Planet Australia''. Lonely Planet, 2004. ISBN 1-74059-447-9, p. 653〕 was finished and the light first lit on 1 November 1861, the Cape Wickham Lighthouse was only officially opened in November 2011 at a community celebration of the light's 150th anniversary.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Governor-General of Australia: Events: Governor-General opens Cape Wickham Lighthouse )〕 Captain John Black also visited the island just after Reed and named it King's Island after Governor Philip Gidley King. Captain John Black was sailing in the brig ''Harbinger'', after which the dangerous Harbinger Rocks off the island's north-west coast are named. It was found to abound in both fur seals and Southern elephant seals which were soon exploited to local extinction. Governor King, knowing that the French navigator Nicolas Baudin was going to head for the island, when he left Port Jackson in 1800, sent the ''Cumberland'' from Sydney to formally claim the islands for Britain. The ''Cumberland'' arrived just before the French and the British had hastily erected the British Flag in a tree.〔The Journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin—Libraries Board of South Australia 1974〕 Baudin still circumnavigated and extensively mapped the Island in 1802, giving French names to some localities which are still in use today like "Phoques Bay" on the north-west coast. As a result of this incident, British settlements were established at the River Derwent and Port Dalrymple in Tasmania and later Port Phillip. Sealers continued to harvest the island intermittently until the mid-1820s, after which the only inhabitants were some old sealers and their Australian Aboriginal wives who mostly hunted wallaby for skins. The last of these left the island in 1854 and for many years it was only occasionally visited by hunters and more often castaways from shipwrecks. The first submarine communications cable across Bass Strait in 1859 went via King Island, starting at Cape Otway, Victoria, it made contact with the Tasmanian mainland at Stanley Head, and then continued on to George Town. However it started failing within a few weeks of completion, and by 1861 it failed completely. A later telephone and telegraph cable across Bass Strait operated via King Island from 1936 until 1963. In the 1880s the land was opened for grazing. A township developed at Currie and the post office opened on 1 June 1892 (known as King's Island until 1903, King Island until 1917, thereafter Currie). Currie, on the west coast, now has the only post office on the island, but in the past Grassy, in the southeast (1918–35, 1943–91), Naracoopa on the east coast (1920–62), Pearshape to the south (1946–59) and Egg Lagoon in the north (1925–67) replacing Yambacoona (1922–25) all had official post offices. The other localities of King Island are Bungaree, Loorana, Lymwood, Nugara, Pegarah, Reekara, Sea Elephant, Surprise Bay, Wickham and Yarra Creek.〔 All share the postcode 7256. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「King Island (Tasmania)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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