Dirk Hartog Island

About

Dirk Hartog Island is an island off the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) long and between 3 and 15 kilometres (2 and 9 miles) wide and is Western Australia's largest and westernmost island. It covers an area of 620 square kilometres (240 square miles) and is approximately 850 kilometres (530 miles) north of Perth.

Known as Wirruwana by the traditional custodians of the island, the Malgana people, the island is named after Dirk Hartog, a Dutch sea captain, whose ship first encountered the Western Australian coastline in 1616, close to the 26th parallel south latitude, which runs through the island. After leaving the island, Hartog continued his voyage north-east along the coast, giving the Australian mainland one of its earliest known names, Eendrachtsland, which he named after his ship Eendracht, meaning "concord".

The island is now the site of a major environmental reconstruction project, Return to 1616, that has seen all introduced livestock and feral animals removed, and eleven native species in various stages of reintroduction.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.