Barrow Island is a

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

northwest off the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

coast of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The island is the second largest in Western Australia after

Dirk Hartog Island Dirk Hartog Island is an island off the Gascoyne (Western Australia), Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, within the Shark Bay, Western Australia, Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It is about long and between wide and is Western Australia's ...

Early history and European discovery

The island was visited by

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

approximately 4,000 or more years ago. It separated from the mainland approximately 6,800 years ago. Stone artefacts including several weathered flakes and fragments made of igneous and metamorphic rocks and chert were collected from Barrow Island in the 1960s. Thevenard Island also has evidence of Aboriginal visitation, and it is likely that the nearby

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands, about 92 of which are named, lying north of Barrow Island (Western Australia), Barrow Island and off the Pilbara region of W ...

were utilized as well; however, there have been no archaeological finds from these islands. Navigators had noted its existence since the early 17th century, and

Nicholas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 175416 September 1803) was a French people, French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean, Pacific. He carried a few ...

sighted it in 1803, mistakenly believing it to be part of mainland Australia.

Phillip Parker King Phillip Parker King (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 Josepha King ''née'' Coo ...

named the island in 1816 after

Sir John Barrow Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1764 – 23 November 1848) was an English geographer, linguist, writer and civil servant best known for serving as the Second Secretary to the Admiralty from 1804 until 1845. Early life Barrow was b ...

, a Secretary of the Admiralty and founder of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

Whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

s were known to operate in the area from about 1800 onwards. The first recorded visit by whalers was in 1842 with continued visits occurring until 1864. The island was used as a

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

trading centre for

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

during the 1870s by Captain William Cadell until he was arrested and removed from the colony in 1876. Slave labour was used in the nearby mainland pearling industry.

Guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...

seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...

bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

excrement Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

that is a highly effective

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

, was found on the island and mining began in 1883. It was mined for the remainder of the 1880s and sold to markets in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Environment

Barrow Island is noted for its flat spinifex

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s spotted with

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

mounds. While the main feature of Barrow Island's geography is the undulating limestone uplands, the island is surrounded by a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky shores, low cliffs, dunes, salt flats, and reefs. Due to its isolation from mainland Australia and protection afforded under its statutory status, Barrow Island is one of the most important conservation reserves in Western Australia. It is an "A-class" reserve, the highest level of conservation protection available for Crown land in Australia. Once a national park or class A nature reserve is made, mining leases and general purpose leases cannot be granted over them without the consent of both Houses of Parliament, and actual mining cannot take place within them without specific permission of the Minister for Environment. This occurred in 2003, when a portion of the reserve was excised to facilitate the

Gorgon gas project The Gorgon gas project is a multi-decade natural gas project in Western Australia, involving the development of the Greater Gorgon gas fields, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island. The p ...

. The island is known for its diversity of mammalian fauna, including several species now extinct or greatly reduced on mainland Australia. Thirteen mammal species exist on the island, including the spectacled hare-wallaby,

burrowing bettong The boodie (''Bettongia lesueur''), also known as the burrowing bettong or Lesueur's rat-kangaroo, is a small, furry, rat-like mammal native to Australia. Once common throughout the continent, it is now restricted to a few coastal islands. A memb ...

, golden bandicoot, black-flanked rock-wallaby, Barrow Island euro and Barrow Island mouse ('' Pseudomys nanus ferculinus''). The island is also home to 43 species of terrestrial reptiles including a variety of dragons, legless lizards, geckos, skinks, snakes and monitors. The most recognisable of these is probably the perentie, Australia's biggest

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

and the island's top predator. The island represents important turtle nesting habitat for the

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

and

flatback sea turtle The Australian flatback sea turtle (''Natator depressus'') is a species of sea turtle in the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The species is Endemism, endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental sh ...

. Some exotic species exist on the island (e.g. the

American cockroach The American cockroach (''Periplaneta americana'') is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest. In certain regions of the U.S. it is colloquially known as the waterbug, though it is not a true waterbug since it is not ...

) but the island fauna is largely intact. Black rats (''Rattus rattus'') were discovered to have established in 1990, but were eradicated by the

Department of Conservation and Land Management The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was created by the ...

. Current threats include invasive species (including

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

feral cats A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

, common house gecko, etc.) establishing on the island, clearing for development, fire and disease. Limestone caves on Barrow Island support subterranean ecological communities. These include endemic and vulnerable species. Invertebrate species include

stygofauna Stygofauna are any fauna that live in groundwater systems or aquifers, such as caves, fissures and vugs. Stygofauna and troglofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environmen ...

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

crustaceans, of '' Nedsia'', '' Liagoceradocus'' and other genera. These mostly inhabit an anchialine system, a "lens" of fresh water above the saline ground water, which they share with cave fish species such as the

blind cave eel The blind cave eel (''Ophisternon candidum'') is a species of cavefish in the family Synbranchidae. It is the longest cavefish in Australia (up to ) and one of the only three vertebrates in Australia that is restricted to underground waters, the ...

(''Ophisternon candidum''), and two blind cave gudgeons, '' Milyeringa veritas'' and '' Milyeringa justitia''.

Troglofauna Troglofauna are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglofauna and stygofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environments – troglofa ...

have also been discovered within the cave systems; these include the schizomid '' Draculoides bramstokeri'' and perhaps the only troglobitic reptile—'' Anilios longissimus''. Hydrogen sulphide produced by the "Barrow fault" may sustain this diverse community through

chemoautotrophic A chemotroph is an organism that obtains energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments. These molecules can be organic (chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic (chemolithotrophs). The chemotroph designation is in contrast to phototroph ...

energy production.

Birds

Barrow Island has been classified 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 i ...

as an

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 ...

. Birds include the Barrow Island black-and-white fairy-wren (''Malurus leucopterus edouardi''), an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

subspecies of the white-winged fairy-wren, which is regarded as vulnerable to extinction. The island also supports over 1% of the world populations of

grey-tailed tattler The grey-tailed tattler (''Tringa brevipes'', formerly ''Heteroscelus brevipes''Banks, Richard C.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V. Jr.; Rising, James D. & Stotz, Douglas F. (2006):Forty-seventh ...

red-necked stint The red-necked stint (''Calidris ruficollis'') is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ruficollis'' is from La ...

pied oystercatcher The pied oystercatcher (''Haematopus longirostris'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island pied oystercatcher (''H. finschi'') occurs in New Zealand. ...

, and

fairy tern The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as " Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is "Critically Endangered". Fairy terns live in colonies along the coastli ...

, as well as an isolated population of the spinifexbird.

Conservation

The Western Shield project has sought to reduce the impact of

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

to the region. Corporate and state government cooperation on programs has produced studies into the little-known subterranean fauna of the island.

Energy reserves

Oil

Oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

was discovered on the island in commercial quantities in 1964 by West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (

WAPET West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET) was a pioneer oil and gas exploration and processing company in Western Australia. History Formed in March 1952 as a joint venture between Caltex and Ampol, the company discovered Australia's first flowi ...

), and the first

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...

was established shortly after. In 1995, there were 430 wells producing oil and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

across most of the southern half of the island. The site has been

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's leading producer of oil.

Oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

s are filled by a submarine

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

that extends offshore. WAPET established a 200-room

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

complex for workers on the island. A private

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

facility known as Barrow Island Airport was also established to transport workers and equipment from Karratha and

Gas

In December 2009, a development consortium comprising the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron,

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

, and

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

received environmental approvals from the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

to develop natural gas reserves north of the island. Known as the

, it was completed in 2017, offering an estimated of gas, making it one of Australia's largest developments.

Climate

Barrow Island has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''BWh'') with very hot, humid summers with highly variable rainfall, and warm, dry winters.

Highest wind record

The

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

established Barrow Island as the location of the highest non- tornadic wind gust ever recorded, at 408 km/h (254 mph).World Record Wind Gust: 408 km/h
. World Meteorological Organization. The gust occurred on 10 April 1996, during Severe Tropical Cyclone Olivia.Courtney, J., et al. 2012
Documentation and verification of the world extreme wind gust record: 113.3 m/s on Barrow Island, Australia, during passage of tropical cyclone Olivia. ''Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal'' 62: 1-9. The previous record was a 372 km/h (231 mph) gust at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, United States in April 1934.