Bass Strait

Map of Australia with Bass Strait marked in light blue

Bass Strait (IPA /bæs/) is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland (Victoria in particular). The first European to discover it was Matthew Flinders in 1798. Flinders named it after his ship's doctor George Bass.

Approximately 240 km wide at its narrowest point and generally only around 50 metres deep, it was almost dry during the last ice age. It contains many islands, with King Island and Flinders Island home to substantial human settlements.

Like the rest of the waters surrounding Tasmania, and particularly because of its limited depth, it is notoriously rough, with many ships lost there during the 19th century. In 1859 the Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse was completed, helping to protect shipping passing that point.

Strong currents between the Antarctic-driven Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea provide a strait of powerful, wild storm waves. To illustrate its wild strength, Bass Strait is both twice as wide and twice as rough as the English Channel. The shipwrecks on the Tasmanian and Victorian coastlines number in the hundreds, although stronger metal ships and modern marine navigation have dropped the danger sharply. Ship disappearances, sparking the legend of the Bass Strait Triangle, are widely contributed to these wild oceans and rough coastlines. However, incidents including the mysterious 1978 disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich raise questions as to whether all disappearences are meterological in nature.

Islands

Map of Bass Strait including major island groups

There are over 50 islands in Bass Strait. Major islands include:

Western section:

• King Island
• Three Hummock Island
• Hunter Island
• Robbins Island

South eastern section:

• Furneaux Group
  • Flinders Island
  • Cape Barren Island
  • Clark Island
  • and over 50 other islands

North eastern section:

• Kent Group
  • Deal Island
  • and 3 smaller islands
• Hogan Island
• Curtis Island

Natural resources

A number of gas fields exist in Bass Strait. The eastern field was discovered in the 1960s and is located about 50 km off the coast of Gippsland. The gas is sent via a pipeline to refineries at Altona and Geelong, as well as by tanker to New South Wales. The western field was discovered in the 1990s 10 km offshore near Port Campbell. Its exploitation is due to begin in 2005.

Infrastructure

Major infrastructure connections between Tasmania and Victoria

Transport

The fastest and cheapest method of travel across Bass Strait is by air. The main carriers are Qantas, JetStar, and Virgin Blue. Major airports include the Hobart International Airport and Launceston Airport; the smaller airports are serviced by Regional Express who generally fly only to Melbourne and the Bass Strait islands.

The domestic sea route is being serviced by three Spirit of Tasmania passenger/vehicle ferries, all based in Devonport, Tasmania. Two travel the Melbourne route, and one to Sydney.

See Transportation in Tasmania for more details.

Energy

The Basslink HVDC electrical cable has been in service since 2006. It has the capacity to carry up to 630MW of electrical power across the strait and is the longest submarine power cable in the world.

Alinta owns a submarine gas pipeline, delivering natural gas to large industrial customers near George Town, as well as the Powerco gas network in Tasmania.

Communications

The first submarine communications cable across Bass Strait was laid in 1859. Starting at Cape Otway, Victoria, it went via King Island and Three Hummock Island, made contact with the Tasmanian mainland at Stanley Head, and then continued on to George Town. However it started failing within a few weeks of completion, and by 1861 it failed completely.

Tasmania is currently connected to the mainland via two Telstra-operated fibre optic cables; since 2006, dark fibre capacity has also been available on the Basslink HVDC cable.

Other submarine cables include:

Date	Northern end	Southern end	Companies (Manufacturer / Operator)	Details
1859-1861	Cape Otway	Stanley Head	Henley's Telegraph Works Tas & Vic Govts	System 140 nm
1869-?	?	?	Henley's Telegraph Works Australian Govt	System 176 nm
1885-?	?	?	Telcon Australian Government
1909-1943	?	?	Siemens Bros Australian Government	System 285 nm. Was reused at Torres Strait
1935-?	?	?	Siemens Bros Australian Government	First telephone cable
1995-	Sandy Point	Boat Harbour	ASN Telstra	First fibre optic cable
2003-	Inverloch	Stanley	ASN Calais Telstra
2005-	Woy Lang	Bell Bay	Basslink	First electrical distribution cable