Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Broken Bay |
Administration | |
Australia | |
State | New South Wales |
Lion Island Nature Reserve New South Wales | |
---|---|
Nearest town or city | Gosford |
Coordinates | 33°33′25″S151°19′04″E / 33.55694°S 151.31778°E |
Established | 1956 |
Area | 0.08 km2 (0.0 sq mi) [1] |
Managing authorities | NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service |
See also | Protected areas of New South Wales |
Lion Island is an island that is located at the mouth to the Hawkesbury River in Broken Bay on the Central Coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The island is located just off Pearl Beach and is part of the Central Coast Council local government area. [1] It is a descriptive name because it resembles a Sphinx, a mythical figure of a crouching lion. [2]
The island was originally named Mount Elliott Island by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1789, because it resembled Gibraltar where his friend, General Elliott, had inflicted defeats on French and Spanish fleets. [3] This name continued to be used by cartographers until the 1920s. [4]
In 1956, the Lion Island Fauna Reserve was established on the island. In 1977, it was reclassified as the Lion Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1967 and is administered by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. [5] The nature reserve covers all of the island, an area of approximately 8 hectares (20 acres). [1]
Due to the island's significant biodiversity it was added to the Australian National Heritage List in December 2006. [6] The island is a breeding habitat for shearwaters [1] [7] and is free of feral cats and foxes. [2] The island has a weed infestation problem that includes Bitou Bush and Lantana. [1]
Lion Island contains the largest population of Australian little penguins in the Sydney area. [1] In 2007, the population was approximately 300 breeding pairs and appeared to be stable. [8]
A more recent study has suggested that the colony has been in steep decline since the 1990s. No primary cause of the decline has been identified. By comparison, the nearby colony at Manly is believed to be stable. [9]
Lion Island supports mammalian predators, namely water rats, which have been observed running along the water's edge at night. [9] Rat nest depredation has been proven to impact the little penguin population on Granite Island in South Australia.
In 2012, penguin researchers observed that penguins' feeding trips were much longer than those taken by the population on Bowen Island in the Jervis Bay Territory. [9]
In 2021, efforts were made to clear storm debris that had washed up ahead of penguin breeding season. [10]
Public access to the island is by permit, provided by the National Parks and Wildlife Service Regional Manager, and is restricted to conservation, education and research purposes. [1] No recreational facilities are provided on the island. [1]
On the evening of 25 August 2018 it was reported that Lion Island was fully engulfed in flames following a lightning strike. Further reports in relation to the impact on the island and the island's fauna are expected.
The cap at the Eastern end of Lion Island is composed of Hawkesbury Sandstone. The shores of the island are composed of the older Narrabeen Group of sandstones and shales. [1]
In 2005, a documentary film claimed erroneously that the wreckage of a Japanese midget submarine, which disappeared after the attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942, was buried under sand on the seabed, just east of Lion Island. [11] [12] The wreck has since been located near Bungan Head. [13]
The Garigal National Park is a protected national park that is located within the North Shore and Forest District regions of Sydney, New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 2,202-hectare (5,440-acre) national park is situated approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the Sydney central business district.
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The 14,977-hectare (37,010-acre) park is 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, south of the Hawkesbury River, west of Pittwater and north of Mona Vale Road. It includes Barrenjoey Headland on the eastern side of Pittwater.
Marramarra National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Hawkesbury region of northwestern Sydney, New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 11,785-hectare (29,120-acre) national park is situated approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of the Sydney central business district.
Palm Beach is a suburb in the Northern Beaches region of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Palm Beach is located 41 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. Palm Beach sits on a peninsula at the end of Barrenjoey Road near Pittwater and is the northernmost beach in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan area. The population of Palm Beach was 1,593 as at the 2016 census.
Hornsby Shire is a local government area situated on the Upper North Shore as well as parts of the Hills District, of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The shire stretches from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some 53 kilometres (33 mi) to the north, making it the largest local government council in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region by total area. As of the 2016 census the shire had an estimated population of 142,667.
Brooklyn is a suburb and the northern most town on the Pacific Highway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Brooklyn is located on the northern outskirts of Sydney and is located in the local government area of the Hornsby Shire with a population of 737 as of the 2021 census. Brooklyn is surrounded by the Muogamarra Nature Reserve and occupies a strip of waterfront along the southern bank of the Hawkesbury River.
Pittwater is a semi-mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separate greater Metropolitan Sydney from the Central Coast.
Spectacle Island is a 36.4-hectare (89.9-acre) island in the village of Mooney Mooney that is located in the Hawkesbury River on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Spectacle Island is located on the junction with Mooney Mooney Creek and the Hawkesbury River.
Barunguba / Montague Island is a continental island contained within the Montague Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve that is located offshore from the South Coast region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The nearest town located onshore from the 81-hectare (200-acre) reserve and island is Narooma, situated approximately 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to the northwest.
Barrenjoey is a locality in the suburb of Palm Beach, at the most northern tip of Pittwater. The headland is made up primarily of sandstones of the Newport Formation, the top third is a cap of Hawkesbury sandstone. Around 10,000 years ago the headland was cut off from the mainland due to the rising sea level; subsequent buildup of a sand spit or tombolo reconnected the island to the mainland. It is the location of the Barrenjoey Head Lighthouse, a lighthouse that was first lit in 1881. In 1995 Barrenjoey was gazetted into Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
Long Island is an elongated island of 73 hectares in the Hawkesbury River, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the Sydney central business district,New South Wales, Australia. It is joined to the mainland at its south eastern edge by the railway causeway across Sandbrook Inlet. At the other end of this causeway is the Sydney suburb of Brooklyn in Hornsby Shire, to which Long Island belongs.
Kuringgai is an ethnonym referring to an Indigenous Australian people who once occupied the territory between the southern borders of the Gamilaraay and the area around Sydney, and an historical people with its own distinctive language, located in part of that territory.
Mooney Mooney is a small waterfront village and suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the Central Coast Council local government area at the end of a peninsula extending southwards into the Hawkesbury River, that is situated 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Sydney. Mooney Mooney has two islands which are Peat Island and Spectacle Island.
The geography of Sydney is characterised by its coastal location on a basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline on the east coast of New South Wales, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the Sydney sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.
The Five Islands Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve located in the Tasman Sea, off the Illawarra east coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The 26-hectare (64-acre) reserve comprises five continental islands that are situated between 0.5 and 3.5 kilometres east of Port Kembla. The Five Islands are Flinders Islet, Bass Islet, Martin Islet, Big Island and Rocky Islet.
The Barrenjoey Head Lighthouse is a heritage-listed lighthouse at Barrenjoey Headland in the Sydney suburb of Palm Beach, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James Barnet, the New South Wales Colonial Architect and built by Isaac Banks. It is also known as Barrenjoey Head Lightstation. The property is owned by Office of Environment and Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The lightstation was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Brush Island is a continental island, contained within the Brush Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve, known as Mit Island in the Dhurga language of the Murramamrang people of the Yuin nation see It is located off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. The 47-hectare (120-acre) island and reserve is situated within the Tasman Sea, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-east of the coastal village of Bawley Point.
The Bird Island Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve located near Lake Munmorah on the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The island is situated 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) off the east coast of New South Wales, within the Tasman Sea. The reserve may be seen from the lighthouse at Norah Head.
Batemans Bay is an open oceanic embayment that is located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The bay forms the mouth of the Clyde River and its primary outflow is to the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean.
Waratah Park is a heritage-listed former Aboriginal land and fauna sanctuary and now Aboriginal title claim at 13 Namba Road, Duffys Forest in the Northern Beaches Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known for serving as the fictional Waratah National Park, the filming location for the Australian television series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, when the area was still undeveloped Crown land. After the series ended, the Crown land remained mostly undeveloped, with the government granting management of the area to a series of operators until August 2014, when the government passed full ownership of the land to the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 February 2015.