East Wallabi Island is an island in the

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

of the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...

, located in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

off the west coast of mainland

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

History

East Wallabi Island played an important role in the story of the shipwreck and massacre. Following the shipwreck, a group of soldiers under the command of

Wiebbe Hayes 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 was wrecked in the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of coral islands off the w ...

were put ashore on

West Wallabi Island 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. History West Wallabi Island was important in the story of the '' Batavia'' shipwreck and massacre. Fol ...

to search for water. The mutineers who took control of the ship left them 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 , East Wallabi Island is the second-largest island in Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, after

. It is roughly circular in shape, except for Fish Point in the north-east. It is approximately long (along the south-eastern edge) and about wide,

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

. Retrieved on 2009-01-17. giving it an area of about . 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 , 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 A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

. 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 to the south that is used as a seasonal camp for the

Western Rock Lobster Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

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 Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

Turnstone Island Turnstone Island is an island off the coast of Western Australia. It is part of the Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the ...

Seagull Island Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari (bird), Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders ...

Oystercatcher Island Oystercatcher Island is an island off the coast of Western Australia. It is part of the Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off ...

and

Geology and physiography

The basement of East Wallabi Island is the

Wallabi Limestone 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, i ...

, a dense calcretised,

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

platform that underlies the entire Wallabi Group. This platform, which arises abruptly from a flat shelf, is about thick, and is of

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

origin. Reef that formed during the

Eemian interglacial The Eemian (also called the last interglacial, Sangamonian Stage, Ipswichian, Mikulin, Kaydaky, penultimate,NOAA - Penultimate Interglacial Period http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/global-warming/penultimate-interglacial-period Valdivia or Riss-Würm) wa ...

(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. The basement is capped by

aeolianite Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...

. This ranges from 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.

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 Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

, 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:

Birds

The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

References

{{reflist Wallabi Group Important Bird Areas of Western Australia Islands of the Houtman Abrolhos