Dirk Hartog Island facts for kids
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Indian Ocean |
| Coordinates | 25°50′S 113°05′E / 25.833°S 113.083°E |
| Area | 620 km2 (240 sq mi) |
| Length | 80 km (50 mi) |
| Width | 15 km (9.3 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 188 m (617 ft) |
| Highest point | Herald Heights |
| Administration | |
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Australia
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| State | Western Australia |
| Region | Gascoyne |
| Shire | Shire of Shark Bay |
Dirk Hartog Island is a large island located off the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia. It is part of the amazing Shark Bay World Heritage Area. This island is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) long and between 3 and 15 kilometers (2 to 9 miles) wide. It is the biggest and most western island in Western Australia.
The island covers an area of 620 square kilometers (240 square miles). It is located about 850 kilometers (530 miles) north of Perth. The island is named after Dirk Hartog, a Dutch sea captain. He was the first European to land near this part of the Western Australian coast in 1616. He named the mainland "Eendrachtsland" after his ship, the Eendracht. This name means "concord" or "unity."
Today, Dirk Hartog Island is home to an exciting environmental project called Return to 1616. This project aims to bring the island back to how it was before European settlement. All introduced farm animals and wild animals like goats and cats have been removed. Now, eleven native animal species are being brought back to live on the island.
Contents
History of Dirk Hartog Island
Early European Visits and the Hartog Plate
Hartog Plate Dirk Hartog discovered the island on October 25, 1616. He was sailing the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Eendracht from Cape Town to Batavia (now Jakarta). To mark his visit, Hartog and his crew carved their names and the date onto a pewter plate. They then nailed this plate to a post on the island.
In 1697, another Dutch captain, Willem de Vlamingh, landed on the island. He found Hartog's plate! De Vlamingh replaced it with his own plate, which included a copy of Hartog's message. He took the original Hartog plate back to Amsterdam. You can still see it today in the Rijksmuseum.
French Explorers and Buried Bottles
On March 28, 1772, a French explorer named Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn visited the island. He became the first European to officially claim Western Australia for France. This happened during a special ceremony on March 30. During the ceremony, one or more bottles were buried on the island. One bottle was said to contain a document claiming the land and a coin.
In 1998, a team of explorers found a lead bottle cap with a coin in it at Turtle Bay. This discovery led to a bigger search by the Western Australian Museum. On April 1, 1998, they found a whole bottle with a similar lead cap and coin. However, the document claiming the land has not been found yet.
In 1801, a French expedition led by Captain Emmanuel Hamelin visited the island. They found de Vlamingh's plate almost buried in the sand. Captain Hamelin ordered it to be put back in its original spot. Later, in 1818, another French explorer, Louis de Freycinet, took de Vlamingh's plate. It ended up in Paris but was lost for over 100 years. It was found in 1940 and returned to Australia in 1947. You can now see it at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.
Sheep Farming and National Park Status
In 1869, Francis Louis von Bibra was given a lease for the island. He started a sheep farm there and also traded guano (bird droppings used as fertilizer). The island was seen as a great place for sheep because there were no rabbits to cause problems. By 1909, about 12,000 sheep lived on the island. They produced around 400 bales of wool.
Later, in about 1969, Perth Lord Mayor Sir Thomas Wardle bought the island as a private getaway for his family. Most of the island eventually became government property again. It is now part of the Shark Bay Marine Park. Today, a small part of the island is run as an eco-tourism resort by Wardle's grandson, Kieran Wardle.
World War II Discovery
On March 16, 2008, the Australian Prime Minister announced an important discovery. The wreck of the World War II German ship Kormoran was found. It was on the seabed about 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Dirk Hartog Island.
Island Features
The very northern tip of the island is called Cape Inscription. This is where the famous historical plates were placed. It is also where the main lighthouse stands.
Next to Cape Inscription, facing north, is a bay known as Turtle Bay. The most south-westerly point of the island is Surf Point. This point is located at a channel called South Passage. This channel is across from Steep Point on the mainland.
Island Environment and Wildlife
Dirk Hartog Island is mostly covered in scrub and sand dunes. For many years, it was used as a sheep station. At one point, it had as many as 20,000 sheep. Now, the island is a National Park, and all the sheep have been removed. The eastern side of the island is next to the Shark Bay Marine Park. The whole area is part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.
Dirk Hartog Island is a very important place for wildlife. It is a key nesting site for loggerhead sea turtles. Green turtles also nest on its beaches. The island is also home to a special type of white-winged fairy-wren found nowhere else. Quoin Bluff, on the eastern side, has a large nesting colony of pied cormorants. This area is recognized as an important bird area.
The Return to 1616 Project
In October 2018, a big project finished on the island. After 20 years of work, the island was declared free of wild cats, goats, and sheep. This was a huge step for the Return to 1616 project. The goal is to bring back 11 native animals that used to live on the island. Many of these animals disappeared after farming started on the island over 150 years ago.
The project is bringing back nine native species that were definitely on the island before. These include the western barred bandicoot, burrowing bettong, Shark Bay mouse, greater stick-nest rat, western thick-billed grasswren, brush-trailed bettong, heath mouse, desert mouse, mulgara, dibbler, and chuditch.
Two other mammal species are also being brought back. Scientists believe they probably lived on the island in the past. These are the rufous hare-wallaby and the banded hare-wallaby. These two were the first to be returned after the wild cats were removed in September 2017. In October 2019, the western barred bandicoot and the dibbler were also brought back to the island.
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See also
In Spanish: Isla Dirk Hartog para niños
