The Sir Joseph Banks Group is an archipelago in the Australian state of South Australia located in Spencer Gulf about 20 kilometres (12 mi) off the eastern coast of the Eyre Peninsula.

The islands are low-lying, with the highest point on Spilsby of about 50 metres (160 feet) They consist mainly of a granite base beneath limestone and are usually capped with calcrete or sandy soil.

Spilsby Island is privately owned and continues to be grazed by sheep, as well as holding a few holiday cottages.

[4] Visits to the islands are only possible by boat, with the closest mainland access point being the coastal town of Tumby Bay, 22 kilometres (14 miles) to the north-west.

[6] Many islands in the group are named after places in Flinders and Banks' home county of Lincolnshire, England.

The name of Reevesby Island allegedly honors Banks' country residence, Revesby Abbey,[7] though the spelling is inconsistent.

[8] The nearest major population centre to the islands is Port Lincoln, the name of which also refers to Flinders and Banks' Lincolnshire connection.

[13] In the early 20th century, guano was quarried at Marum Island by the Spencer Gulf Fertilizer Company.

[25] In September 1903, the fishing cutter Jessica was wrecked and its crew found a week later on Stickney Island.

[1] As well as the native death adders, tiger snakes, and several species of lizard including goannas, many of the islands have introduced mammals such as feral cats, house mice or chinchilla rabbits.

Greater stick-nest rats were reintroduced to Reevesby Island in 1990/91,[1] and black tiger snakes were abundant there in 1937.

Along the beaches I found many beautiful shells, some no bigger than a threepenny bit, and others as large as a small dinner plate, and many varieties of seaweed spread over the seafloor.

"[31]During a 1941 demonstration of the two-way radio system which allowed conversations between Reevesby Island and the mainland for the first time, resident Mrs R. Adams described hundreds of Cape Barren geese nesting on the island, swimming with a seal and said that there was a large penguin burrow under a windmill.

The observers noted the southern end of Reevesby Island was a roost for mutton-birds and rock parrots.

[31] In 1937, the McCoy Society made an expedition to the Sir Joseph Banks group, collecting specimens, taking photographs and making film recordings.

[38] Coarse mapping of breeding sites of Little penguins occurred during a 1996 survey of South Australia's offshore islands.

Sitting bolt upright, their short, hair-like plumage dark blue, with white fronts, they look at human beings with eyes which hold no fear, only a mild wonder at the appearance of the intruder.

In 1907, the colony was mentioned by Douglas Mawson from the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science: "The cavities in the limestone, which have been hollowed out by the sea, were found to contain a very large number of penguins.

The archipelago has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) known as the Sir Joseph Banks Group Important Bird Area because it supports over 1% of the world populations of white-faced storm petrels (with up to about 180,000 breeding pairs), Cape Barren geese (up to about 1200 individuals), black-faced cormorants (from 3000 to 5000 breeding pairs), and, probably, of Pacific gulls.

[44] Other seabirds which breed in the archipelago include little penguins, silver gulls and greater crested terns.