Michaelmas Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

located in

King George Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...

near

Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a ...

. The island is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

(declared in 1983) and managed by the

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

; its reserve number is 30049. The island is also registered as a national estate. The island is in area. Michaelmas Island has steep rocky shores with submerged reefs all along its northern southern and eastern sides in depths up to with large

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

boulders. The faces are covered in a diverse range in

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 ...

s and

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

s and home to a wide variety of marine life. A whale chaser “ Cheynes III” that was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

in 1982 is located off the western side of the island and is regarded highly as a diving site. Michaelmas Island is an important

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

for both resident and migratory birds. The habitat of these species is threatened by weed invasion such as Taylorina and

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

animals such as rats.

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

named many of the landforms around Albany when he entered King George Sound in 1791 including Michaelmas Island (discovered on

Michaelmas Day Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christianity, Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical year, liturgica ...

, Breaksea Island, Oyster Harbour and Point Possession. Vancouver described the island as being covered in rich grasses and other vegetables. Before leaving he planted some vine cuttings, some water cresses, and sowed various seeds.

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

landed on the island in 1801 and reported the island to be covered in wiry grasses and stunted shrubs, also it was covered in rat holes. In 2016 the island was chosen as a new habitat site for the critically endangered

Gilbert's Potoroo Gilbert's potoroo or ngilkat (''Potorous gilbertii'') is Australia's most endangered marsupial, the rarest marsupial in the world, and one of the world's rarest critically endangered mammals, found in south-western Western Australia. It is a ...

. The island's lack of predators was a key factor in its selection, which will provide the Gilbert's Potoroo with a similar level of long-term protection enjoyed by the

quokka The quokka (''Setonix brachyurus'', ) is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus ''Setonix''. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbivo ...

s of

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

, also in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Image:Michaelmas_and_breaksea.jpg, Michaelmas Island (left) and Breaksea Island (right) as viewed from

Middleton Beach Middleton may refer to: People *Middleton (name), list of notable people with surname of Middleton Places Australia *Middleton, Queensland *Middleton, South Australia *Middleton, Tasmania, on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel *Middleton Beach, Western A ...

, Albany Image:King_george_sound.jpg, King George Sound as viewed from

Mount Clarence Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, Albany

References

{{reflist, 30em Islands of the Great Southern (Western Australia) Albany, Western Australia King George Sound