Furneaux << FUR noh >> Islands are a group of islands that lie at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. Flinders and Cape Barren islands are the largest. East Sister Island is the most northerly, and Clarke Island is the most southerly. Stock raising, agriculture, and the mutton-bird industry are the main livelihoods. Mutton birds are shearwaters—a type of seabird—that are considered a delicacy to eat. Their cooked flesh is supposed to taste like mutton. The Furneaux Islands were named in honor of the British navigator Tobias Furneaux, captain of the ship Adventure on Captain James Cook’s second Pacific Ocean voyage. On that voyage, in 1773, Furneaux became the first European to sight the islands.
