Bowen Island

Bowen Island, British Columbia, is an island municipality in Howe Sound, is part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and is an island included within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust. Approximately 6 km wide by 12 km long, the island at its closest point is about 3 km west of the mainland. There is regular ferry service from Horseshoe Bay, as well as three water taxi services. The population of 3,402 is supplemented in the summer by roughly 1,500 visitors, as Bowen Island is a popular vacation home location for British Columbians. About 500 workers and over 200 students commute to offices and schools on the mainland each day. The island has a land area of 49.94 km² (19.28 sq mi).

Indigenous peoples

The name for Bowen Island is Nex̱wlélex̱m in the Squamish language of the Squamish people. The Squamish peoples used and occupied the area around Howe Sound including Bowen Island. Areas such as Snug Cove and a few other parts of the island were used as campsites for hunting and gathering trips.

Bowen Island (Jervis Bay)

Bowen Island is a sandstone island lying 250 m off the tip of the Bherwerre Peninsula at the entrance to Jervis Bay, on the coast of New South Wales, Australia. The island, however, is not part of the state of New South Wales but of the Jervis Bay Territory, administered by Australia’s federal government. It lies within the Booderee National Park.

Description

The island is tear-shaped, about 1.1 km long north to south, and 0.6 km wide. It slopes sharply from the cliffs on its eastern, or oceanic, side down to rock platforms at sea level on its west. Much of it is covered by windblown sand supporting, and stabilised by, various vegetation communities. The island was named after Lieutenant Richard Bowen RN. Another Bowen Island, in Canada, is named after Richard's eldest brother Rear-Admiral James Bowen RN.

Birds

The island, with the waters on its western side, constitutes a special purpose zone intended to protect nesting seabirds and their habitat from disturbance, and is not open to general public access. Birds nesting on the island include sooty oystercatchers and three species of shearwater (little, wedge-tailed and short-tailed).