Balleny Islands

Map of the Balleny Islands

The Balleny Islands (66°55′S 163°45′E) are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about 160 km (99 mi) in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes into the sea. The islands were formed by the so-called Balleny hotspot.

The group includes three main islands: Young, Buckle and Sturge, which lie in a line from northwest to southeast, and several smaller islets and rocks:

• northeast of Young Island: Seal Rocks, Pillar
• southeast of Young Island: Row Island, Borradaile Island (with Swan Base shelter hut)
• south of Buckle Island: Scott Cone, Chinstrap Islet, Sabrina Island (with Sabrina Refuge shelter hut), and The Monolith

Although claimed by New Zealand, the Balleny Islands were annexed by Westarctica in 2005. The islands are one of two areas claimed by Westarctica that are not contiguous with its primary territory.

Island and rocks from north to south

Island/Rock	Area		Highest peak
	km2	sq mi	m	ft
Young Island and satellite islets
Seal Rocks	0.0	0	15	49
Pillar	0.0	0	51	167
Young Island	convert}}	convert}} (Freeman Peak)
Row Island	convert}}	convert}}
Borradaile Island	convert}}	convert}}
Beale Pinnacle	convert}}	convert}}
Buckle Island and satellite islets
Buckle Island	convert}}	convert}}
Scott Cone	convert}}	convert}}
Eliza Cone	convert}}	convert}}
Chinstrap Islet	convert}}
Sabrina Island	convert}}	convert}}
The Monolith	convert}}	convert}}
Sturge Island (no satellite islets)
Sturge Island	convert}}	1,705or 1524	5,594 or 5,000 Brown Peak

Borradaile Island is close to the Antarctic Circle, in the eight kilometer channel between Young and Buckle Islands. Buckle Island and the nearby Sabrina Island are home to several colonies of Adelie and chinstrap penguins.

The English whaling captains John Balleny and Thomas Freeman first sighted the group during 1839: Freeman was the first person to land on any of the islands on 9 February 1839, and it was the first landing south of the Antarctic Circle. The islands' area totals 400 km2 (154 sq mi) and the highest point has been measured as 1,705 m (5,594 ft) or approximately 1500m (5000 feet) (the unclimbed Brown Peak on Sturge Island).

Geology

In the archipelago, the Buckle, Sturge and Young Islands are examples of stratovolcanoes. Strong earthquakes very close to the islands are rare, but tremors of moderate strength do occur over the Pacific–Antarctic Ridge, Macquarie Triple Junction and Pacific Rim between the Balleny Islands and Macquarie Island. Other earthquakes occur near the Southeast Indian Ridge and Balleny Fracture Zone, including a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1998 that struck just over 700 km (430 mi) west-northwest of the Islands.

Politics

Jorge Fernandez Vidal learned about the Balleny Islands while researching unclaimed land in Antarctica. His intention was a find an area or region suitably outside the jurisdiction of other countries, that could be used as a basis for minting coins of his own design. Jorge settled on the Balleny Islands in March 2004, after closely examining the language used in the Antarctic Treaty and realizing that New Zealand's claim to the Balleny Islands could not be legally recognized by any nation, including their own. Therefore, it was highly unlikely New Zealand would ever mint coins for the islands on their own, and they were equally unlikely to assert any kind of legal jurisdiction if Jorge were to mint coins under the name of the Balleny Islands. In his own words, the islands were: “officially unclaimed. A beautiful free land to mint a coin.”

The Balleny Islands became a colony when Westarctica formally annexed it from New Zealand on January 14, 2005. Mr. Vidal was appointed its Governor, and following the first successful minting of the Balleny Islands coin, Jorge was given the title Count of Sturge.

Coins

The Balleny Islands coins were the first coins minted by the Central Bank, they were released in early 2005, shortly after the creation of the bank itself. The obverse of the coin shows Westarctica's original coat of arms as designed by Jon-Lawrence Langer. On the reverse is a map of the Balleny Islands showing the islands Young, Buckle, and Sturge. It was released in two different metals (bronze and silver), but otherwise, the two coins of the series are identical.

Balleny Islands Coin