Lighthouse at Deal Island
(Photograph copyright PWS)
The six islands and islets of the Kent Group comprise Tasmania's northernmost national park - located about 55 kilometres north-west of Flinders Island and approximately the same distance from Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.
The Kent Group National Park consists of three main Islands, Deal, Erith and Dover. The total land area of the park is 2,374 hectares, while the largest of the islands - Deal - has an area of 1,576 hectares.
The islands and islets have a rich Aboriginal cultural heritage with human occupation of the area estimated to date back between 8,000 and 13,000 years. The islands also have a long European history. The first European to see the islands was Mathew Flinders in 1798, during a voyage to Preservation Island to rescue survivors of the Sydney Cove Wreck.
The islands were used for extensive fur seal sealing, for a period of about 50 years. A lighthouse station was built on Deal Island in 1848. The island has not had permanent inhabitants since 1992 when the lighthouse was deactivated, although volunteer caretakers have since lived on the island.