Bass Pyramid

Bass Pyramid
	Bass Pyramid Location of the Bass Pyramid in Bass Strait
Geography
Location	Bass Strait
Coordinates	39°49′12″S 147°14′24″E / 39.82000°S 147.24000°E
Archipelago	Furneaux Group
Area	21,600 m2 (233,000 sq ft)
Length	220 km (137 mi)
Width	140 km (87 mi)
Administration
	Australia
State	Tasmania
Demographics
Population	unpopulated

The Bass Pyramid, part of the Furneaux Group, is a small, two sectioned oval, steep-sided 100-square-metre (1,100 sq ft) unpopulated granite island, located in Bass Strait, lying north of the Flinders Island and south of the Kent Group, in Tasmania, Australia.^[1] A rock bridge connects the two sections.

The island was used intermittently from the 1940s until 1988 as a bombing and shelling target by the Australian airforce and navy. On 5 April 1978 the island was proclaimed part of a nature reserve.

Recorded breeding seabird and wader species include fairy prion, common diving-petrel, Pacific gull, silver gull, Australasian gannet and sooty oystercatcher. It is also a haul-out site for Australian fur seals.^[2] The seals were hunted here in the 19th century.^[3] The dangers of the site resulted in at least three sealers losing their lives here.^[4]

References

^ "Bass Pyramid(TAS)". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
^ Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X
^ Parry Kostoglou (1996), Sealing in Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, p.117-8.
^ Kostoglou, p.118.