West Wallabi Island

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West Wallabi Island
The Fort - West Wallabi Island - Colour.JPG
The Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort on West Wallabi Island, the oldest surviving European building in Australia, built in 1629 by survivors of the Batavia shipwreck
West Wallabi Island
Geography
Location Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia
Coordinates 28°27′55″S113°41′41″E / 28.46528°S 113.69472°E / -28.46528; 113.69472
Archipelago Houtman Abrolhos
Area6.21 km2 (2.40 sq mi)
Coastline14.93 km (9.277 mi)
Administration
Australia
State Western Australia
Demographics
PopulationUninhabited

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.

Contents

History

West Wallabi Island was important in the story of the Batavia shipwreck and massacre. Following the shipwreck in 1629, a group of soldiers under the command of Wiebbe Hayes were put ashore there to search for water. A group of mutineers who took control of the other survivors left them there in the hope that they would starve or die of thirst. However the soldiers discovered that they could wade to East Wallabi Island, where there was a fresh water spring. Furthermore, West and East Wallabi Islands are the only islands in the group upon which the tammar wallaby lives. Thus the soldiers had access to sources of both food and water that were unavailable to the mutineers.

Later the mutineers mounted a series of attacks, which the soldiers beat off. The Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort, remnants of improvised defensive walls and stone shelters built by Wiebbe Hayes and his men on West Wallabi Island, are Australia's oldest known European structures, [1] [2] : 37  [3] more than 150 years before expeditions to the Australian continent by James Cook and Arthur Phillip. [4]

In the context of the Batavia mutiny and massacre, East Wallabi Island is often referred to as "Wiebbe Hayes' Island" [ citation needed ]. This was the name given it in contemporary sources, and was used by historians as long as it remained a lost toponym. [ citation needed ]

Geography

Desc-i.svg
The Wallabi Group (excluding North Island) from space

Nominally located at 28°28′3″S113°41′12″E / 28.46750°S 113.68667°E / -28.46750; 113.68667 , [5] [6] West Wallabi Island is the largest island in the Houtman Abrolhos, with an area of 6.21 km2 (about 2.5 sq miles) which is more than a third of the total land area of the archipelago. It is located in the north-west of the Wallabi Group, the northernmost of three island groups in the Houtman Abrolhos.

The island has three named points: Slaughter Point, Blowfish Point and Pelican Point. Between Blowfish Point and Pelican Point is a bay named Shag Bay, and south of Pelican Point is a bay named Horseyard Bay.

The island is surrounded by submerged coral reef. This is narrow at Shag Bay, but fairly extensive along the rest of the coast. To the north-east, the reef is high enough for a person to wade from island to island: islands connected to West Wallabi Island in this way include Barge Rock, Turnstone Island, Seagull Island, Oystercatcher Island and East Wallabi Island.

Geology and physiography

The base of West Wallabi Island is the Wallabi Limestone, a dense calcretised coral limestone platform that underlies the entire Wallabi Group. This platform, which rises abruptly from a flat shelf, is about 40 metres (130 ft) thick, and is of Quaternary origin. Reefs 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 West Wallabi Island. [7] [8]

The basement is capped in some places by an aeolianite pavement, and this is in turn overlain in places by sand dunes. [8] [9]

Flora

As one of the few islands in the Houtman Abrolhos large enough to support dune systems, West Wallabi Island supports a relatively high diversity of plant life: according to a survey published in 2001, 97 plant species occur on the island. Both the dunes and the pavement limestone support species-rich vegetation complexes dominated by chenopod shrubs, and these communities have been identified as important for species conservation, because they are diverse, yet easily disturbed and slow to recover. [10]

Birds

The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of breeding seabirds. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Batavia</i> (1628 ship) Dutch East India Company flagship

Batavia ( ) was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). She was built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the flagship of one of the three annual fleets of company ships and sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. On 4 June 1629, Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the western coast of Australia.

<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.

<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 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">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.

Batavia Road is an anchorage, or roadstead, in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia. It is located at 28°58′S113°58′E, on the eastern side of Pelsaert Island, near its southern end. It was discovered and named in April 1840 by John Clements Wickham, captain of HMS Beagle. Wickham's assistant John Lort Stokes later wrote:

"On the south west point of the island the beams of a large vessel were discovered, and as the crew of the Zeewyk, lost in 1728 [sic], reported having seen the wreck of a ship on this part, there is little doubt that the remains were those of the Batavia, Commodore Pelsart, lost in 1627. We in consequence named our temporary anchorage Batavia Road, and the whole group Pelsart Group."

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">East Wallabi Island</span> Island in Houtman Abrolhos islands in Western Australia

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.

Traitors Island is an uninhabited island off the western coast of Australia, near the site of the Batavia shipwreck. About 50 metres long, it is situated near Beacon Island and is part of the Wallabi Group within the Houtman Abrolhos.

<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.

Wouter Loos was a soldier on board the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia, which sank on Morning Reef in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia in 1629. Loos had a critical role in the subsequent Batavia Mutiny, becoming the leader of the mutiny after the original leader, Jeronimus Cornelisz (Corneliszoon), was captured.

<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. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Company (2003). Shipwrecks: Batavia.
  2. ↑ Michael Pearson (2005). Margaret Cresswell (ed.). Great Southern Land: The Maritime Exploration of Terra Australis (PDF). Canberra: Department of the Environment and Heritage. ISBN   0-642-55185-5. OCLC   67617194. OL   26818732M. Wikidata   Q110529184 . Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Batavia Shipwreck Site and Survivor Camps Area 1629 (2008). Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
  4. ↑ Elder, Bruce (2005). The Brutal Shore. The Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. ↑ Gazetteer of Australia (1996). Belconnen, ACT: Australian Surveying and Land Information Group.
  6. ↑ "East Wallabi Island". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  7. ↑ 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. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  8. 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.
  9. ↑ Storr, Glen (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.
  10. ↑ 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)
  11. ↑ "IBA: Houtman Abrolhos". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
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