Ninth Island

Ninth Island is an island in Bass Strait in south-eastern Australia.

It is approximately 1.3 km long, 550 m wide and covers an area of 32 ha. It is part of the Waterhouse Island Group, lying 11.7 km from the north-eastern coast of Tasmania. It is partly privately owned and has been badly affected in the past by grazing, frequent fires and, in July 1995, by the MV Iron Baron oil spill which killed between 2000 and 6000 little penguins. The island forms part of the Ninth and Little Waterhouse Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), so identified by BirdLife International because it holds over 1% of the world population of black-faced cormorants.

In approx 1988-1989, Ninth Island was purchased for $64,000. In February 2015, Ninth Island was advertised for sale, with an asking price of A$500,000. On 11 July 2015 it was passed in at auction for $1.19 million.

The island currently does not have a jetty or an airstrip, so the only way to access the island is via helicopter.

A conservation covenant exists on the island, owing to the fact a mutton-bird rookery exists on the island.