St Peter Island (South Australia)

St Peter Island
The island appears on this 1644 map as "I St. Pierre"
St Peter Island is located in South Australia
St Peter Island
St Peter Island
Geography
LocationGreat Australian Bight
Coordinates32°17′S 133°34′E / 32.283°S 133.567°E / -32.283; 133.567
ArchipelagoNuyts Archipelago
Administration
Australia

St Peter Island (originally in Dutch: Eyland St. Pierre) is an island in the Nuyts Archipelago on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia near Ceduna. It is the second largest island in South Australia and about 13 km (8.1 mi) long.[1] It was one of the first parts of South Australia to be discovered and named by Europeans, along with St Francis Island, mapped by François Thijssen in 't Gulden Zeepaert in 1627.

Seal hunting took place on the island in the 1820s and 1830s.[2] Archaeological investigations have also located whale vertebra at the site.

The historic St Peter Island Whaling Sites are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register as a designated place of archaeological significance.[3]

  1. ^ "Pieter Nuyts". Flinders Rangers Research. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  2. ^ Kostoglou, Parry; McCarthy, Justin (1991). Whaling and sealing sites in South Australia. Fremantle, WA: Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. pp. 47–50.
  3. ^ "St Peter Island Whaling Sites, Nuyts Archipelago Conservation Park (designated places of archaeological significance)". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 12 February 2016.