The Backstairs Passage is a
strait in
South Australia lying between
Fleurieu Peninsula on the
Australian mainland and
Dudley Peninsula on the eastern end of
Kangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line from
Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula to
Kangaroo Head (west of
Penneshaw) on Kangaroo Island.[2]The Pages, a group of islets, lie in the eastern entrance to the strait. About 14 km wide at its narrowest, it was formed by the rising sea around 13,000 years ago, at the end of the
Pleistocene era, when it submerged the land connecting what is now Kangaroo Island with the Fleurieu Peninsula. Backstairs Passage was named by
Matthew Flinders whilst he and his crew on
HMS Investigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia in 1802.
Discovery and exploration
Backstairs Passage was named by
Matthew Flinders on 7 April 1802 whilst he and his crew on HMS Investigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia. Flinders noted that this body of water is separate from
Investigator Strait and that "it forms a private entrance, as it were, to the two gulphs; and I named it Back-stairs Passage."[3]
On 6 June 1995, South Australian
marathon swimmer Andrew Martin completed the first recorded solo crossing of Backstairs Passage, covering the 14.25 km distance in 4 hours 31 minutes 30 seconds.[4]
Maritime history
The coastal processes occurring in
Gulf St Vincent and along the southern coastline of
Fleurieu Peninsula are complex. Due to the relatively shallow
Gulf St Vincent joining the Southern Ocean through the deeper Backstairs Passage, this narrow and dangerous channel is subjected to strong currents, heavy tidal swells and steep breaking seas.[5]
In the early years following European colonisation many of the nearly fifty vessels wrecked in the hazardous waters around Kangaroo Island were lost while crossing Backstairs Passage to and from the mainland. This led to South Australia's first lighthouse, the
Sturt Light, being built in 1851 at
Cape Willoughby on the eastern tip of Kangaroo Island.[6] In addition to vessels navigating the treacherous crossing to and from the mainland, sailing ships (commonly wooden
barques) making use of the
Roaring Forties trade winds on voyaging to South Australia could be propelled by the prevailing winds into Backstairs Passage, or as far
Bass Strait.[7]
Shipwrecks
San Pareille - brigantine wrecked between Cape Jervis and Lands End on 30 January 1855.[8]
Vanquish - schooner wrecked near Fishery Beach in early December 1864.[9]
Thistle - schooner wrecked near Cape Jervis in 1866.[10]
Hopper Barge No.3 - hopper barge sunk at Lands End on 21 October 1880 during the operation to refloat the stranded SS Sorata.[11]
^Bye, John A. T. and Carvalho Junior, Oldemar. The first recorded successful cross Backstairs Passage swim: research note [Andrew Martin's swim is a unique entry in the annals of South Australian exploration.] [online]. South Australian Geographical Journal, Vol. 95, 1996: 70-74.
^Australian Hydrographic Service; Cooper, A. H (2006),
Australia - south coast, Port Adelaide to Backstairs Passage (Notices to Mariners inclusive to 2006 ed.), Published by the Australian Hydrographic Service, 28th May 1958, under the superintendence of Commander A.H. Cooper, R.A.N,
archived from the original on 25 February 2024, retrieved 12 April 2017
^"Kangaroo Island Heritage Survey 1991"(PDF). Department of Environment: heritage surveys. Government of South Australia.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^"Bound for South Australia". State Library of South Australia: South Australian State Records. Government of South Australia.
Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^"Baudin Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
^"Lashmar Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
^"Deep Creek Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
Boating Industry Association of South Australia (BIA); South Australia. Department for Environment and Heritage (2005), South Australia's waters an atlas & guide, Boating Industry Association of South Australia,
ISBN978-1-86254-680-6
South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors (1985), The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs, Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia (DMH),
ISBN978-0-7243-7603-2
Coroneos, Cosmos (1997), Shipwrecks of Encounter Bay and Backstairs Passage, Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology & Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology.