The Friars (Tasmania)

The Friars are four steep dolerite rocks, with a combined area of about 17 ha (42 acres), in south-eastern Australia. They are part of the Actaeon Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, at the southern entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the mainland. They form part of South Bruny National Park.^[1][2]

The Friar Island group

Australian fur seal colony, Friar Island

The group was named The Fryars by Tobias Furneaux in Adventure in March 1773.^[3][4][5]

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird species are the little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, fairy prion and common diving-petrel. The metallic skink is present. Australian fur seals, and possibly New Zealand fur seals, use the rocks as a regular haul-out site.^[1]