Nepean Island

Nepean lies a short distance off Kingston, a low island of calcarenite, a limestone made of cemented shell sand, and that is why it matters: the blocks in the Georgian buildings at Kingston were quarried here and rafted across. Nothing lives on it now except seabirds, which nest in numbers on the flat top. Landing is restricted and the crossing depends entirely on the sea. The island is only around ten hectares and the whole of it is visible from the Kingston shore.

Background

In Norfuk it is Nepeyan Ailen. It lies about 800 metres south of Norfolk Island and, unlike Norfolk and Phillip Islands, is not volcanic: its rock is limestone from the Late Pleistocene, made of sand dunes piled up by the wind between the two most recent ice ages. Tall cliffs ring it, so small boats can rarely land. The island belongs to Norfolk Island National Park, which also takes in Phillip Island and about 10 percent of the main island. Lieutenant Philip Gidley King is thought to have named it in 1788 after Evan Nepean, an Under-Secretary of State at the Home Department. About 200 Norfolk Island pines grew here until the island was cleared in the 1790s.

Source: Wikipedia, "Nepean Island (Norfolk Island)"

What's there

• The quarry ground - where the Kingston building stone was cut.
• The calcarenite - the cemented shell sand the island is made of.
• The seabird colonies - the nesting on the flat top.
• The crossing - the short but swell-dependent boat passage.

When to go

September to May is warmer and calmer. Landings are cancelled often. Seabird nesting is heaviest in the warmer months.

Practical notes

Landing needs a permit and is frequently impossible because of the swell. There is no shelter or facility of any kind. Nesting birds must not be disturbed.

Nearby

Phillip Island is south, and Kingston is north.

Key facts