To the west of Flinders Island, Mount Chappell Island was dedicated as an Indigenous Protected Area in 2000. The 327 hectare island also has important links to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.
Managed by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Rangers, work continues to protect the island’s mutton bird rookeries and to maintain existing buildings on the island so that community members have a place to stay. The rangers are also revegetating the island with native plants and controlling weeds such as boxthorn, mirror bush and sea spurge.
Mount Chappell Island's mutton bird chicks help feed the largest tiger snakes in Australia. The rangers know many of the Cape Barren tiger snakes by name, and have a growing knowledge of the island's mutton birding history as they uncover signs of their ancestors.
