East Wallabi Island

Last updated
East Wallabi Island
East Wallabi Island.jpg
Satellite image
East Wallabi Island
Geography
Location Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia
Coordinates 28°26′23″S113°43′33″E / 28.43972°S 113.72583°E / -28.43972; 113.72583 [1] [2]
Archipelago Houtman Abrolhos
Area3.21 km2 (1.24 sq mi)
Length3.3 km (2.05 mi)
Width1.8 km (1.12 mi)
Highest elevation15 m (49 ft)
Highest point Flag Hill
Administration
Australia
State Western Australia
Demographics
PopulationUninhabited

East Wallabi Island is an island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, located in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of mainland Australia.

Contents

History

East Wallabi Island played an important role in the story of the Batavia shipwreck and massacre. Following the shipwreck, a group of soldiers under the command of Wiebbe Hayes were put ashore on West Wallabi Island to search for water. The mutineers, under the lead of Jeronimus Cornelisz, left Hayes' soldiers there in the hope that they would starve or die of thirst. However, the soldiers discovered that they were able to wade to East Wallabi Island, where they eventually discovered a fresh water spring. Furthermore, West and East Wallabi Island are the only islands in the group upon which the tammar wallabi lives. Thus the soldiers had access to sources of both food and water that were unavailable to the mutineers.

In the context of the Batavia mutiny and massacre, East Wallabi Island is often referred to as "High island". This was the name given it in contemporary sources, and was used by historians for as long as it remained a lost toponym.

Geography

Nominally located at 28°26′23″S113°43′33″E / 28.43972°S 113.72583°E / -28.43972; 113.72583 , [1] [2] East Wallabi Island is the second-largest island in Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, after West Wallabi Island. It is roughly circular in shape, except for Fish Point in the north-east. It is approximately 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) long (along the south-eastern edge) and about 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) wide, [3] giving it an area of about 321 hectares (790 acres). [4]

There are two named hills on the island. Flag Hill is located in the north-east of the island, at the foot of Fish Point; at 15 metres (49 ft), it is the highest point in the Houtman Abrolhos. In the south-east is another hill, named Eagle Hill. Other named localities include Fish Point and, on the point's western side, Turtle Bay. Immediately to the west of Flag Hill is an airstrip.

The island is surrounded by submerged coral reef. This is narrow along the west, north and east shores, giving way to open ocean to the west and north. Beyond the reef on the east side of the island lies Pigeon Island Anchorage, the main passage and anchorage for Pigeon Island, a small island 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south that is used as a seasonal camp for the Western Rock Lobster fishery. To the south, the reef is extensive, and much of it is high enough that a person may wade from island to island; islands connected to East Wallabi Island in this way include Barge Rock, Turnstone Island, Seagull Island, Oystercatcher Island and West Wallabi Island.

Geology and physiography

The basement of East Wallabi Island is the Wallabi Limestone, a dense calcretised, coral limestone platform that underlies the entire Wallabi Group. This platform, which arises abruptly from a flat shelf, is about 40 metres (130 ft) thick, and is of Quaternary origin. Reef that formed during the Eemian interglacial (about 125,000 years ago), when sea levels were higher than at present, are now emergent in places, and constitute the basement of the group's central platform islands, which include East Wallabi Island. [5] [6]

The basement is capped by aeolianite. This ranges from one to three metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) thick, and forms an almost continuous pavement on the western half of the island. The aeolianite is in turn overlain by sand dunes. These are discontinuous in western and northern parts of the island, but in the south-west and east they are extensive and consolidated. [6] [7]

Flora

As one of the few islands in the Houtman Abrolhos large enough to support dune systems, East Wallabi Island supports a relatively high diversity of plant life. Both the dunes and the pavement limestone support species-rich vegetation complexes dominated by chenopod shrubs, and these communities have been identified as having species conservation importance, because they are so diverse, yet so easily disturbed and so slow to recover.

According to a survey published in 2001, 124 plant species occur on East Wallabi Island, the most of any island in the archipelago: [4]

Birds

The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houtman Abrolhos</span> Group of islands and reefs off Western Australia

The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral reef in the Indian Ocean, and one of the highest latitude reef systems in the world.

<i>Zeewijk</i> Dutch trading ship

The Zeewijk was an 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company that was shipwrecked at the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia, on 9 June 1727. The survivors built a second ship, the Sloepie, enabling 82 out of the initial crew of 208 to reach their initial destination of Batavia on 30 April 1728. Since the 19th century many objects have been found near the wreck site, which are now in the Western Australian Museum. The shipwreck itself was found in 1968 by divers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallabi Group</span> Islands in Western Australia

The Wallabi Group is the northernmost group of islands in the Houtman Abrolhos off the western coast of Western Australia. it is 58 kilometres from the Australian mainland, and about 9 kilometres from the Easter Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelsaert Group</span> Islands in Western Australia

The Pelsaert Group is the southernmost of the three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos island chain. It consists of a number of islands, the largest of which are Gun Island, Middle Island, and Pelsaert Island. The group is named after Francisco Pelsaert a Dutch "opperkoopman", who stranded nearby with the VOC-ship "Batavia" in 1629. The group contains the most southerly true coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. The group is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Island (Houtman Abrolhos)</span> Island in the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Mid West Western Australia

North Island is the northernmost island in the Houtman Abrolhos, a coral reef archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mid West Western Australia. Located about 14 km (9 mi) from the nearest island group, it is one of the largest islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, and one of the few to support dune systems. It has relatively diverse flora dominated by chenopod shrubs and fauna that includes the introduced tammar wallaby, around seven species of reptile, and about 15 resident bird species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North East Reef</span> Reef in Western Australia

North East Reef is a reef in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. Located at 28°25′13″S113°48′41″E, it takes its name from the fact that it is situated to the north-east of the main body of islands that makes up the Wallabi Group. The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fish Point (Houtman Abrolhos)</span> Peninsula on East Wallabi Island

Fish Point is a point in the north-eastern corner of East Wallabi Island in the Houtman Abrolhos island chain off the coast of Western Australia. It is located at 28°25′40″S113°44′34″E. It sits at the foot of Flag Hill, the highest peak on East Wallabi Island, and its western edge looks out onto Turtle Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun Island</span> Island in Western Australia

Gun Island is one of the larger islands in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. It is nominally at 28°53′10″S113°51′35″E, about 4 km (2.5 mi) north and east of Half Moon Reef and is a flat limestone outcrop of about 800 by 420 metres in size. The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abrolhos painted buttonquail</span> Subspecies of bird

The Abrolhos painted buttonquail is a subspecies of the painted buttonquail endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos. It is common on North Island, and also occurs on other islands of the Wallabi Group, namely East Wallabi, West Wallabi, Seagull and Pigeon Islands.

Flag Hill is the highest hill on East Wallabi Island, and the highest point in the Houtman Abrolhos, an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. It is located in the north-east of the island; its gazetted location is 28°26′7″S113°44′14″E, but in fact it is located somewhat east of there at about 28°26′02″S113°44′18″E. It is about 15 metres (50 ft) high.

Wallabi Limestone is the name given to the dense calcretised, limestone platform that underlies the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. This platform, which arises abruptly from a flat shelf, is about 40 metres thick, and is of marine biogenic origin, having originated as a coral reef. It reached its maximum size during the Eemian Stage, when sea levels were higher than at present. The subsequent fall in sea level resulted in the reef becoming emergent in places, thus forming the basement of the group's "central platform" islands, namely West Wallabi Island, East Wallabi Island and North Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon Island (Houtman Abrolhos)</span>

Pigeon Island is a small island located need the middle of the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. It is almost entirely given over to western rock lobster fishers' camps, and as a result is far more disturbed than most other islands in the archipelago. A nearby island also seasonally populated by fishers is named Little Pigeon Island, hence Pigeon Island is sometimes referred to as "Big Pigeon Island".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon Island Anchorage</span> Island located on Western Australia

Pigeon Island Anchorage is a passage through a reef that runs along the northwest wide of Pigeon Island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. Pigeon Island is seasonally populated by a great many Western Rock Lobster fishers, and Pigeon Island Anchorage represents the only safe approach to the island. It is thus heavily used as both a navigational passage and as an anchorage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiebbe Hayes</span> Leader of resistance to Batavia Mutiny

Wiebbe Hayes was a Dutch soldier known for his leading role in the suppression of Jeronimus Cornelisz's massacre of shipwreck survivors in 1629, after the merchant ship Batavia was wrecked in the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of coral islands off the west coast of Australia.

Shag Rock is a small rocky island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Wallabi Island</span> Island in Western Australia

West Wallabi Island is an island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of mainland Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Cramer</span> Australian diver

Max Cramer OAM was an Australian scuba diver who became famous as the co-discoverer of the wreck of the Batavia on 4 June 1963. He was involved in a number of maritime archaeology projects pertaining to historic shipwrecks in Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort</span> Defensive structure in West Wallabi Island, Australia

The Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort on West Wallabi Island is the oldest surviving European building in Australia and was built in 1629 by survivors of the Batavia shipwreck and massacre. West Wallabi Island is 63 km (39 mi) from the coast of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelsaert Island</span>

Pelsaert Island is one of the islands of the Pelsaert Group, which is the southernmost of the three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos island chain in Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beacon Island (Houtman Abrolhos)</span> Island in Western Australia

Beacon Island, also known as Batavia's Graveyard, is an island on the eastern side of the Wallabi Group at the northern end of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 Gazetteer of Australia (1996). Belconnen, ACT: Australian Surveying and Land Information Group.
  2. 1 2 "East Wallabi Island". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  3. Google Earth. Retrieved on 2009-01-17.
  4. 1 2 Harvey, J. M., Alford, J. J., Longman, V. M. and Keighery, G. J. (2001). "A flora and vegetation survey of the Houtman Abrolhos, Western Australia". CALMScience. 3 (4): 521–623.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Collins, Lindsay B.; Zhu, Zhong Rong; Wyrwoll, Karl-Heinz (1998). "Late Tertiary-Quaternary Geological Evolution of the Houtman Abrolhos Carbonate Platforms, Northern Perth Basin". In Purcell, R.; Purcell, P. (eds.). The sedimentary basins of Western Australia. Vol. 2. Perth, Western Australia: Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia. pp. 647–663. Archived from the original on 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  6. 1 2 Collins, Lindsay B.; Zhu, Zhong Rong; Wyrwoll, Karl-Heinz (2004). "Geology of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands". In Vacher, Leonard; Quinn, Terrence (eds.). Geology and hydrogeology of carbonate islands (Developments in Sedimentology 54) . Elsevier Science. pp.  811–834. ISBN   9780444516442.
  7. Storr, Glenn (1964). "The physiography, vegetation and vertebrate fauna of the Wallabi Group, Houtman Abrolhos". Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. 48 (1): 1–14.
  8. "IBA: Houtman Abrolhos". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-08-12.