Albany Island or Pabaju is an island off the north-eastern coast of

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

in the Adolphus Channel and part of the Manar Group of islands of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It is within the

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in the

Shire of Torres The Shire of Torres is a local government area located in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering large sections of the Torres Strait Islands and the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula north of 11°S latitude. It holds two distinctions—it ...

Geography

Albany Island is off the north-eastern coast in the

about East of

Bamaga Bamaga ( , ) is a small town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australia and i ...

, and southeast of the tip of Cape York. It is separated from the peninsula by the Albany Passage (). The island is a part of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

; it is about long and is volcanic with fringing coral reefs. It is said to have been certainly part of the territory of the Djagaraga or

Gudang The Djagaraga or Gudang (Pantyinamu/Yatay/Gudang/Kartalaiga and other clans) are an Australian Aboriginal tribe, traditionally lived in the coastal area from Cape York to Fly point, including also Pabaju (Albany Island), in the Cape York Penins ...

people. The island was surveyed in 1848 by

Owen Stanley Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor. Life Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother w ...

RN and part of the island was named Port Albany (). A bêche-de-mer station was established on the island in 1862 by C. Edwards and J. Frazer. After an inspection by Queensland's Governor Bowen, a settlement was planned for the island but it was built instead on the adjacent mainland in 1863 at

, Queensland. There was still a

trochus ''Trochus'' is a genus of medium-sized to large, top-shaped sea snails with an operculum and a pearly inside to their shells, marine gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Trochinae of the family Trochidae, the top snails.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. ( ...

shell farm there in 1995, and there is now an operational pearl farm. The wreck of the RMS ''Quetta'', a passenger ship that sank in 1890, lies just off Albany Island. The ship hit an uncharted rock and sank in a very short time killing 134 people.

History

Djagaraga (also known as Yadhaigana, Dyagaraga and Yagulleone) is of the languages from the tip of Cape York. The language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council. Traditionally the language was spoken on Eastern Cape York particularly the localities of Albany Island and Mount Adolphus Island. The island was named Albany in 1846 by Lieutenant Yule of HMS Rattlesnake, in honour of Frederick, Duke of Albany, who was the brother of King George IV. Albany Island is also closely associated with one of Queensland's worst maritime disasters, this being the tragic sinking of the

RMS Quetta RMS ''Quetta'' was a Royal Mail Ship that was wrecked on the Far North Queensland coast of Australia on 28 February 1890. ''Quetta''s sinking killed 134 of the 292 people on board, making it one of Queensland's biggest maritime catastrophes. It ...

. The passenger ship Quetta, struck an uncharted rock in the Adolphus Channel, just off Albany Island in 1890, with the loss of 134 people.

Footnotes

References

* Bowen, George (1864). “New Settlement at Cape York, and Survey within Great Barrier Reef,” ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London'', Vol. 8, No. 4 (1863–1864), pp. 114–121. * Firth, Dawn W. and Clifford B. (1995). ''Cape York Peninsula''. Reed Books. . * Ganter, Regina (1994). ''The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait''. Melbourne University Press. . * Moore, David R. (1979). ''Islanders and Aborigines at Cape York''. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. (hard cover); (soft cover). USA edition: (hard cover); (soft cover). {{Torres Strait , state=autocollapse Torres Strait Islands Islands of Far North Queensland Great Barrier Reef Marine Park