History |
| Flinders arrived off the island on February 21, 1802. As his ship was in need of fresh water, Captain Flinders send First Mate (and personal friend) JOHN THISTLE, with Midshipman William Taylor and six crew members, to search the nearby islands. Sadly these men were never to return. |
| After a search which lasted many days, their wrecked cutter, a single oar and (ironically) a water keg, were all that was found. In honour of his lost crewmen, Flinders named the largest of the islands THISTLE ISLAND, after John Thistle - and seven other nearby islands were named Taylor, Williams, Smith, Lewis, Hopkins and Grindal - in memory of the other members of the party who perished on that fateful expedition. |
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| For the next thirty years or so, the island remained deserted to all intents and purposes. Perhaps the earliest recorded "residents" were an ex-convict, believed to be from "Van Dieman's Land" (Tasmania), complete with his two wives, who were discovered on the island by Captain John Hart in 1831. |
| In 1838 the South Australian Company set up a whaling station on the island. However, the yield was too small to justify further development, and in 1840 it was closed down after the men complained of "starvation and rotten beef, and biscuits such as hungry pigs would loath!" Many traces of this short-lived endeavour still remain - particularly around aptly named "Whaler's Bay." |
| Since those days Thistle Island has had several owners, and there were many attempts to turn it into a useful and productive farming region. But it was not until 1962, when Theo Modra took possession, that it became viable as a sheep-farming prospect. |
| Today, Thistle Island lies awaiting a new era in its long history. Apart from the occasional evidence of its various past tenants, Thistle Island remains very much the same as it must have been when first seen by Matthew Flinders, and the ill-fated John Thistle, over 200 years earlier. |
| In today's world of dwindling privacy and freedom, Thistle Island represents a rare opportunity to satisfy the need for both. |
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