Middle Island ( French: Île du Milieu) 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 ...

off the south coast of

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 ...

in the

Recherche Archipelago The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encomp ...

, around south-east of Esperance. It is known for its pink lake,

Lake Hillier Lake Hillier is a saline lake on the edge of Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago in the Goldfields-Esperance region, off the south coast of Western Australia. It is particularly notable ...

. Goose Island lies just adjacent to the north.

History

The island was named by

d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while ...

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 ...

, along with his botanist Robert Brown, visited in January 1802 and Flinders climbed the peak (subsequently named Flinders Peak) to survey the surrounding islands. John Thistle, '' Investigator's'' Master, collected some salt samples from the

pink lake A pink lake is a lake that has a red or pink colour. This is often caused by the presence of salt-tolerant algae that produces carotenoids, such as ''Dunaliella salina'', usually in conjunction with specific bacteria, which may vary from lake ...

later known as

Philip Parker King Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts. Early life and education King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna J ...

anchored off the island in 1818 and lost two anchors that were later recovered in 1973. Sealers operated from the island throughout the 1800s. Bay whaling operations were conducted here in the 1870s and, possibly, as early as the 1840s. According to legend, pirate

Black Jack Anderson John 'Black Jack' Anderson (d 1842?) was an African-American sealer and pirate active in the Recherche Archipelago off the south coast of Western Australia. Arrival in Australia Anderson arrived in the fledgling King George Sound colony (modern ...

, based himself on Middle Island sometime after his arrival at

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 ...

(now Albany) in 1826, and after being accused of murdering a man. He and a group of men fled to the islands, hunting seals for their skins and launching raids on ships making their way between the eastern and western ports of the continent. ''Belinda'' was wrecked off Middle Island in 1824. In 1826 eight Englishmen who had been marooned on Middle Island by the captain of a sealing vessel ''Governor Brisbane'' were found by the French explorer Dumont d’Urville aboard ''

Astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...

''. ''Mary-Jane'' was wrecked off the island in 1875. In 1889, Edward Andrews investigated the commercial possibilities of producing salt from Lake Hillier, and briefly moved onto the island with both of his sons. They left after working the salt deposits for about one year. ''Rodondo'' was wrecked off the island in 1894 and ''Eclipse'' met a similar fate in 1898. SS ''Penguin'' was wrecked off the island while sheltering from a gale in 1920.

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

was once mined from Lake Hillier.

Location and geographic features

The island lies around south-east of Esperance. The island is in length occupies an area of and approximately off shore from

Cape Arid Cape Arid National Park is a national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance and lies on the shore of the south coast from the eastern end of the Recherche Archipelago. The bay at its east ...

. The island is the largest in the

. Goose Island is just off the north coast of Middle Island. Flinders Peak, at high, dominates the island, and has a

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

at the summit. There is a track marked with surveyors' tape. The island is known for its

, Lake Hillier, a shallow

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

which is about in width. Tourists take scenic flights over the island to see the lake. There are dunes along the coast, and many swimming beaches along the north coast.

Wildlife

The island supports a population of the

tammar wallaby The tammar wallaby (''Notamacropus eugenii''), also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since European colonisation, the ...

and the

bush rat The bush rat or Australian bush rat (''Rattus fuscipes'') is a small Australian Nocturnality, nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria ...

. One species of snake, the crowned snake, has been recorded, along with 31 species of birds. A small population of 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 ...

is being established as an "

insurance population Translocation in wildlife conservation is the capture, transport and release or introduction of species, habitats or other ecological material (such as soil) from one location to another. It contrasts with reintroduction, a term which is gener ...

" on the island , funded by the state government and with

Indigenous rangers The Indigenous ranger projects were introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program. Indigenous rangers are Indigenous Australians who combine traditional knowledge with conservation training in order to p ...

of the Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation helping to monitor numbers. The island was chosen for its remote location, size, lack of predators, and the potoroos' food source, several species of underground

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

. Goose Island is a breeding ground for mutton birds, with prolific burrows covering the ground. There are also black rabbits and some crowned snakes here.

Historical features

Evidence of former European settlement of the island is still visible. There are several

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 ...

fireplaces, one with a baker's oven; an old fishing hut; and relics of horse-drawn rail wagons and old rails. The latter were most likely used transport salt from the lake to the beach. There is also a deep well. The wreck of SS ''Penguin'' is visible from the shore off the north coast.

History

Location and geographic features

Wildlife

Historical features

See also

References

Further reading