Erith Island

Erith Island is a granite island, with an area of 323 hectares (800 acres), in south-eastern Australia. It is the second largest of Tasmania’s Kent Group, lying in northern Bass Strait between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria. It is now part of the Kent Group National Park, Tasmania’s northernmost national park, which was gazetted in 2002. Erith was highly modified for cattle grazing and is mainly covered by exotic pasture. Grazing ended with the acquisition of the lease in 1997 by the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which subsequently relinquished it to the Tasmanian Government for incorporation in the National Park.

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird and wader species include little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, Pacific gull, and sooty oystercatcher. Mammals on Erith are the southern brown bandicoot, long-nosed potoroo and common brushtail possum. Reptiles include the metallic skink, eastern three-lined skink, White's skink and white-lipped snake.