At the Edge of the World: Little Southern Curiosities Volume 1

Tiny true tales from Tasmania and its far edges

Life at the bottom of the world has never been simple. The winds are stronger, the ocean colder, and the stories stranger. Here are a few that surfaced – small curiosities from Tasmania’s southern edge and the islands beyond.

The Penguins Who Became British Subjects

A colony of penguins gathers on rocky ground with snow-covered peaks in the background on Heard Island, early twentieth century. — *Life at the edge of the world – penguin colonies crowd the volcanic slopes of Heard Island, their cries lost in the Southern Ocean wind [National Archives of Australia].*

Heard Island lies deep in the Southern Ocean, roughly halfway between Madagascar and Antarctica. It’s a windswept, volcanic island surrounded by vicious seas. It’s Australia’s most remote territory, once a whaling station and now an uninhabited World Heritage site of seals, penguins, and a volcano. Heard Island is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division from Hobart in Tasmania.

When Britain re-asserted its claim to Heard Island in 1929, journalists reported that the Kildalkey’s crew found only penguins to witness the ceremony. The News (Adelaide) quipped that “millions of penguins” were thereby made British subjects when the Union Jack was hoisted to renew possession of the land. The only permanent residents of this frozen outpost were the birds themselves.

By 1948, even those loyal subjects had apparently fled. The Townsville Daily Bulletin declared that Heard Island was “too cold even for penguins”, it’s volcanic coast lashed by endless winter.

The Pigeon Post from Maatsuyker Island

Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse decorated with signal flags for its official opening in 1891, with rocky islets visible off-shore. — *Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse, dressed in flags for what was likely its 1891 opening – the last light before Antarctica and the loneliest post in Tasmania’s south.*

Before radios, contact with the Maatsuyker Island lighthouse (the southernmost lighthouse in Australia) was often limited to the supply boat’s visits. In 1908, the Hobart Marine Board approved a small, hopeful experiment: a pigeon post service.

A handful of homing pigeons were trained to carry messages between Hobart and the lonely lighthouse, battling wind, rain, and the Roaring Forties. Early reports described the trial as “remarkably successful”, and by 1909 the Board arranged for additional birds to make the sea voyage by store boat to continue the service for two full years.

The Bread that Wouldn’t Stop Rising

*No bread deliveries from Cripps Bakers on Maatsuyker Island!*

In 1951, the wives of the Maatsuyker Island lighthouse keepers took a short holiday to the mainland, leaving the men to fend for themselves in the kitchen. Baking bread seemed simple enough; until it wasn’t.

According to a newspaper snippet, the first loaf rose so enthusiastically it jammed itself in the oven and refused to stop growing. You can almost picture the scene: flour-dusted men peering into the oven with the same wary respect one usually reserves for unpredictable weather.

But isolation teaches people quickly. Within weeks, the keepers reportedly had “the hang” of bread-baking, and their loaves were said to rival, perhaps even surpass, those of their wives. A tiny domestic victory at the end of the earth.

Just three small stories from the edge of the world. Penguins, pigeons, and a loaf of bread – the kind of moments that never make it into history books. Nothing remarkable, except they happened at all.

Tamar Valley Tales