Bruny Island: An Overview

Bruny Island is a beautiful place and it has quite a lot of significance in Tasmania's history. 

Captain Cook landed on it at Adventure Bay, on the east side of South Bruny. Lots of other explorers also visited (or at least tried to) Adventure Bay: Abel Tasman, Tobias Furneaux  (who named it) and William Bligh.

A globe at Adventure Bay.

 

The island itself and the channel of water between it and mainland Tasmania are named after a French explorer, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. The channel is called the D'Entrecastreaux Channel.


Truganini, the most famous of all the Tasmanian Aborigines, came from a tribe which lived on Bruny. 

At the south end of Adventure Bay. The water was beautiful but FREEZING!

 

Bruny Island is made up of a north island and a south island, which are joined together with a narrow isthmus, called "The Neck". So original! North Bruny is less than half the size of South Bruny. Here's a map so you can take a look. On it you can also see Captain Cook's landing place.

An artistic shot of the lighthouse... the person in the front seat was trying to ruin the photo but I love how it turned out.

On Cape Bruny, which is way down south, is a very old lighthouse: The Cape Bruny Lighthouse. It was built in 1838. When it was first in use, there were no roads on the island. To get supplies to the lighthouse boats would land at Jetty Beach (now a camping site in Great Taylor's Bay - look for the green 11 on the map). Supplies were then carried overland to the lighthouse on a track that became the first road on Bruny. Now, it is probably the bumpiest!

The lighthouse is no longer in service, but it remains a popular tourist attraction, which is understandable because it really is a gorgeous lighthouse in a stunning location.