Quoin Bluff, also known as Quoin Bluff South, is an elevated

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 ...

headland midway along the eastern side of

Dirk Hartog Island A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

, in

Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

, on the-west 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 ...

. It extends into Shark Bay between Herald Bay to the north and Tetrodon Loop to the south, and serves as a prominent navigation point with an all-round view of the approaches to Egg Island.

History

The bluff was the site of a small

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

placed there by the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

in 1850 to protect the

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

deposits on Egg Island and other small islands nearby from being illegally exploited by foreign vessels while it was being legally mined. The garrison of 15 soldiers of the 99th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant L.R. Elliot, arrived from

Champion Bay Champion Bay is a coastal feature north of Geraldton, Western Australia, facing the port and city between Point Moore and Bluff Point. Champion Bay was named by Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of , who surveyed the area in April 1840. He named it ...

in October and established a camp, named Irwin Station, consisting of a wooden building and tents. They subsequently constructed at least one building from local stone. They were armed with two cannons emplaced at the top of the bluff with a clear view of the bay. A 100 m stone jetty was built into Herald Bay at the same time, the remains of which are now submerged at high tide. The camp was moved in May and, as the guano deposits were becoming exhausted, the garrison was recalled to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

in July 1851.

Birds

Quoin Bluff is one component of the Quoin Bluff and Freycinet Island

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 ...

(IBA), 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 it holds an important nesting colony of

pied cormorant The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it ...

s. Together with a similar colony on

Freycinet Island Freycinet Island is a small island () in Henri Freycinet Harbour, lying off the Carrarang peninsula in the southern part of Shark Bay, on the-west coast of Western Australia. It is an elevated limestone plateau with scree slopes, vegetated wi ...

some 80 km to the south-east, it supports between 5000 and 10,000 birds - over 1% of the world population of the species.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Quoin Bluff and Freycinet Island (Shark Bay). Downloaded from on 25/09/2011.

References

{{coord, 25, 53, 42, S, 113, 09, 06, E, display=title, region:AU-WA_type:landmark Shark Bay Headlands of Western Australia History of Western Australia Important Bird Areas of Western Australia