King Island lies north-west of Tasmania in the path of the Roaring Forties, the ever-present westerlies that circle the world’s southern latitudes. It’s an island of long, empty beaches and clean, fresh air, of offshore reefs, rocky coasts, dairy farms, lighthouses and shipwrecks.
It is renowned for award-winning creamy cheeses, succulent beef produced on lush pastures, and fresh seafood.
King Islanders have a special relationship with the sea. The island’s kelpies gather bull kelp tossed ashore by storms, while cray fishermen and abalone divers harvest rich catches from beneath the surface. On King Island’s flat farmlands, beef and dairy cattle shelter behind thick ti-tree hedges – the lush grass is the secret to the succulent local beef, rich cream and wonderful hand-made cheeses. You can visit the King Island Dairies shop next to the cheese factory, taste the cheeses and select your favourites to take home. Wallabies and peacocks abound – be careful driving at dusk. Shearwater rookeries pepper tussocky coastal hillsides, and you may sight albatrosses and mighty sea eagles riding the updraughts.
Australia’s worst maritime disaster occurred here in 1845, when the Cataraqui grounded. Today, Cape Wickham lighthouse – the tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere – guides mariners safely into Bass Strait but you can still explore the island’s most important historic sites on the Shipwreck Trail.
Reid Rocks, 12 kilometres offshore, is home to a major breeding colony of Australian fur seals. King Island’s wildlife, both native and exotic, can sometimes surprise – yes, that was a pheasant you saw in the roadside hedge. And yes, it is a paddock of grazing turkeys. But the most pleasant surprise is the warm King Island welcome – in Currie’s motel and friendly pub, in Grassy’s local store and craft shop, in cottages and bed and breakfast and from everyone you pass on country roads.
King Island
AreaTasmania
King Island
Area Municipality
Showing the first 16 results out of a total 16
Currie
UrbanPopulation: 768 | King Island
Currie is the commercial centre of King Island, north-east of mainland Tasmania. With a total population...
Bungaree
RuralPopulation: 24 | King Island
Egg Lagoon
RuralPopulation: 24 | King Island
Grassy
RuralPopulation: 139 | King Island
Loorana
RuralPopulation: 120 | King Island
Lymwood
RuralPopulation: 114 | King Island
Naracoopa
RuralPopulation: 62 | King Island
Nugara
RuralPopulation: 81 | King Island
Pearshape
RuralPopulation: 5 | King Island
Pegarah
RuralPopulation: 134 | King Island
Reekara
RuralPopulation: 26 | King Island
Sea Elephant
RuralKing Island
Surprise Bay
RuralKing Island
Wickham
RuralPopulation: 9 | King Island
Yambacoona
RuralPopulation: 32 | King Island
Yarra Creek
RuralPopulation: 36 | King Island
Showing the first 16 results out of a total 16