Named after the French Admiral, Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, Bruny Island lies in Storm Bay, across the d’Entrecasteaux Channel from the mainland. Access to the island is by vehicular ferry from Kettering.
Bruny is about half the size of Singapore and is home to around 500 Tasmanians. It is a place of contrasts - rolling countryside and rugged coast, quiet beaches and roaring surf, lighthouses and farm houses.
Cook landed on the island and was followed by Furneaux and Bligh who planted Australia’s first apple tree in Adventure Bay in 1788.
The island is almost split in two, with a narrow isthmus connecting the north and south parts. North Bruny Island is flat grazing land interspersed with open woodland.
On the isthmus there is a memorial to Truganini, the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine, and a lookout across Adventure Bay. Take a torch to The Neck in the evenings and you can watch fairy penguins returning to their burrows on the bridge between the two isles.
Much of the spectacular coast of South Bruny Island is protected by South Bruny Island National Park. Take a walk along the coastal track at Adventure Bay or the beach at Cloudy Bay. The lighthouse at Cape Bruny is the second oldest in Australia and tours can be arranged for small parties.
Head to the Bligh Museum of Pacific Exploration at Adventure Bay, which houses artefacts and documents from the voyages of discovery of Cook, Bligh, Furneaux, DEntrecasteaux and Flinders. Although recent, the museum building was made from convict bricks which were made on the island. Cook’s Landing Place has a model of his ship.
Labillardiere State Reserve has a wide variety of southern Tasmanian native flora and fauna. Wildlife which can be seen on the island includes muttonbirds and fairy penguins. Birdwatchers flock to the island which is the only home of the forty spotted pardalote.
Photo: © Tourism Tasmania. All rights reserved
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Huon Valley and D'Entrecasteau Channel region of Tasmania.
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