Paradise revisited....Chappell Island.
Michael Cermak revisits an isolatedislet famous for its Tiger Snakes.After walking around the island twice,
getting tangled up in barilla (the local
salt-tolerant vegetation), and being
severely wind-blown, I was pretty buggered by the
end of the day. This was in November last year,
and I really thought it would be my last trip to
Chappell Island. But recently an opportunity arose
to visit the iconic island again, for the fifth time.There have been a lot of changes since my first
visit in 1984; perhaps the most significant being
the ownership of the island. When European
settlers arrived in the Furneaux Group of islands,
north-east of Tasmania in Bass Strait, they utilised
the island for sheep grazing and, along with the
Aboriginal people, also for muttonbirding. After
several deaths from Tiger Snake bites, muttonbird-
ing ceased in 1975, but the sheep stayed on until
Chappell Island was handed over to the Aboriginal
community in 1995, along with three other islands
in the group; Badger, Great Dog and Babel.
The Aboriginal Land Council was formed that
same year for the purpose of holding the land titles
on behalf of the Aboriginal community and
administering the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995.
Lungtalanana (Clarke Island) was returned to the
Aboriginal community in 2005 through the same
legislative process, along with Cape Barren Island,
which is managed by the Cape Barren Island
community.Naturally, the rangers working on these islands
frequently come in contact with snakes and, being
such isolated places, any need for medical help is
a concern. Grahame and Ambrose are stationed
intermittently on Chappell Island, which is
literally moving with big Tiger Snakes. Although
these snakes are unbelievably docile, a bite from
this species would present a serious issue,
especially considering that it takes four hours for a
helicopter to reach the island. That is the reason
why my friends Justin Kneebone and Chris Daly
from Tas Reptilia were invited to Chappell Island,
to organise a workshop on catching and handling
snakes, including first aid. Justin and Chris are
based in Hobart and they provide educational talks
and displays throughout Tasmania. Apart from the
two ‘locals’ (Grahame and Ambrose), rangers
from the other islands also attended the workshop- we had a blast of a day. How did I fit in? Well,
iHerp Australia magazine sponsored my trip in
order to document this one-off event, and the
Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation guys kindly
flew me from Launceston to the island with Frank
Willebrand, the gun pilot of Flinders Island Air
Charter.
Priority number one was to secure a couple of
good-sized Tiger Snakes for the workshop.
Nothing could be easier on Chappell Island. We
landed on the airstrip at 10am and found at least
ten good-looking tigers on the half-hour walk toFar left (feature page):
one of the rangers
learns how to handle a
Tiger Snake.
Left: Chappell Island
is part of the Furneaux
Group, lying north-east
of Tasmania and
comprising just 323
hectares.
Below: Chappell Island
ranger Ambrose with a
muttonbird chick.
All photos by Michael
Cermak.