Bernier and Dorre Island Nature Reserve

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Bernier and Dorre Islands Nature Reserve
Bernier and Dorre Island Nature Reserve (Australia)
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Coordinates: 24 ° 59 ′ 0 ″  S , 113 ° 7 ′ 0 ″  E
Location: Western Australia , Australia
Specialty: Rare mammals
Next city: Carnarvon
Map of Shark Bay. The two islands are located north of Dirk Hartog Island. Dorre Island is the more southern, Bernier the more northern island.
Map of Shark Bay . The two islands are located north of Dirk Hartog Island . Dorre Island is the more southern, Bernier the more northern island.
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The Bernier and Dorre Islands Nature Reserve is formed by a few uninhabited islands off Western Australia . The main islands of the nature reserve are Bernier Island and Dorre Island .

geography

It is believed that both islands separated from the mainland around 8,000 years ago due to lowering sea ​​levels and increasing erosion . Today there are Bernier and Dorre Iceland in Shark Bay , one of UNESCO World Heritage belonging Nature Reserve . They are located around 50 to 60 km from mainland Australia. Both are narrow, limestone strips of land surrounded by cliffs up to 45 meters high . At 53 km², Dorre Island is slightly larger than Bernier Island (44 km²).

history

The islands were discovered for the first time in the early 17th century by the Dutch navigator Dirk Hartog . His compatriot Willem de Vlamingh gave Dorre Island its name in 1696 (Dorre = Dutch for dry). A little later, the islands were also mentioned in William Dampier's travelogue . Some of the Australian plants that Dampier has collected also come from the Dorre and Bernier Island. In 1801, the French astronomer Pierre-François Bernier visited the island named after him. Bernier reports that the island is not suitable for settlement due to a lack of fresh water, among other things. Both islands are also mentioned in the travelogue of George Edward Gray (1839) and the diaries of Julius Brockman (1860).

Younger story

At the beginning of the 20th century, clinics appeared on the islands. Some of the venereal diseases were treated experimentally . Patients were exclusively mainland Aborigines . The native inhabitants of Australia were separated, the women came to Dorre, the men to Bernier Island. Dozens of Aborigines did not survive the treatments and were buried on the islands.

Nature reserve

fauna

Banded rabbit kangaroo ( Lagostrophus fasciatus ), illustration after Gould

Both islands are home to pouches and other mammals , which, according to the IUCN , are threatened with extinction and are sometimes no longer found on the mainland, but only on Bernier and Dorre Island. These animals are listed in the table.

Latin name German name English name
Lagostrophus fasciatus Banded rabbit kangaroo Banded Hare Wallaby
Perameles bougainville Striped long-nosed bag Western Barred Bandicoot
Lagorchestes hirsutus Shaggy rabbit kangaroo Rufous Hare Wallaby
Bettongia lesueur Brush kangaroo Burrowing Bettong
Pseudomys fieldi Shark Bay mouse Shark Bay Mouse

Rescue attempts

Both islands were never permanently settled. Sheep was raised several times, but did not prevail due to the poor grass on the islands. For the fauna of the islands, however, the adverse conditions for agriculture were an important reason for survival. Without human settlement and permanent shipping to the mainland, no species introduced from Europe reached the Dorre and Bernier Island. However, the wildlife was and is still threatened, for example by bushfires . Julius Brockman wrote about devastating bushfires on Dorre Island. Such fires repeated themselves in 1908 and 1973, extinguishing a large part of the animal population. It was also of chlamydia infections reported, some of which the banded lagorchestes were affected. Based on these facts, it was decided to resettle the animals in other places. First attempts on Dirk Hartog Island failed in the 1970s. Since the 1990s, some species have been successfully established in the Shark Bay area, for example on the Heirisson Prong Peninsula, in François-Péron National Park and on Faure Island .

tourism

A one-day permit can be purchased for Bernier Island. Access to Dorre Island is prohibited. There are numerous diving areas between the islands and Carnarvon .

Web links