Flinders Island Population 2023

What is the Population of Flinders Island?

The population of Flinders Island, in the most recent census of 2011 was 700 people. Of these 700 people, the median age is 45. Settlements within Flinders Island include Lady Barron, Blue Rocks, Winaroo, and Whitemark, amongst a few others. The largest settlement is Whitemark, with around 155 inhabitants as of 2011, and houses the island's airstrip. Another census conducted in 2016 showed that the population of the area is rising. Although Flinders island wasn't isolated in this survey, the population of the Local Government Area, which also includes the island of Cape Barren, is 906 people. The 2011 census combined with Cape Bareen islands was 776, showing a large increase.

Another census was conducted in 2019 that combined the two areas, and the population surpassed 1000. The data showed that there were at least 1010 people in the area, and it has most likely grown since then. The population of the 7255 postal code area of Flinders is 833 up from 702 in the year 2011, which shows a 16% rise for the Municipality, but an overall 18% rise for Flinders Island over 5 years. Although the number of families has increased from 218 to 243, the median age of the entire municipality is 53, which was up from 52. This does not change the median age of the entire island, which is 45, meaning there are younger people on the outskirts of the municipality.

What is Flinders Island?

Flinders Island is the largest island located in the Furneaux group, which is 1367 square kilometers found within the Bass Strait- northeast of the island of Tasmania. The last remnant of the aboriginal Tasmanian population is found here, which were exiled by the colonial British government. Flinder Island is still part of Tasmania today, which makes it part of the overall jurisdiction of Australia. The island is located at a 40-degree south-longitude, which is known as the Roaring Forties region.

Flinders Island was first inhabited around 35,000 years ago when prehistoric ancestors made the voyage across the land bridge in the area which is now the Bass strait. The people endured and a population of some size held there until 4500 years ago when the people died of hunger and thirst following the climate shift from the tropical storm of El Nino. Since then, the south-eastern islands of the Furneau group were recorded by Tobias Furneaux, who was a British navigator and explorer, in 1773. He was captain of the support vessel with James Cook, who had gone with him on his second voyage. Matthew Flinders charted some of the southern islands in 1798, using one of the open boats.

What are Some Interesting Facts About Flinders Island?

James Cook named the collection of Islands the Furneaux islands, which was after Tobias Furneaux. Matthew Flinders had named the island after himself and had named the greater area which includes the bass islands after his late accompanying voyage partner, George Bass.