Flinders Island, Tasmania, Australia

The Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a 1,367-square-kilometre (528 sq mi) islandlocated in the Bass Strait, northeast ofTasmania, Australia. Flinders Island is situated 54 kilometres (34 mi) fromCape Portland and it is located on 40° south, a place known as the Roaring Forties. Flinders Island was first inhabited at least 35,000 years ago, when people made their way across the then-land bridge which is now Bass Strait. A population remained until about 4,500 years ago, succumbing to thirst and hunger following an acute El Niño climate shift. Some of the south-eastern islands of the Furneaux Group were first recorded in 1773 by British navigator Tobias Furneaux, commander of HMS Adventure, the support vessel withJames Cook on Cook’s second voyage.

In the late 18th century, the island was often frequented by sealers and Aboriginal women, the majority of whom had been kidnapped from their mainland tribes. Seal stocks soon collapsed, causing the last sealing permit to be issued in 1828. Many sealers' families chose to stay in the Furneaux Group, subsisting on cattle grazing and muttonbirding.