Wellesley Islands

Wellesley Islands
Wellesley Islands from the Space Shuttle (1991)
Waters	Gulf of Carpentaria , Arafura Lake
Geographical location	16 ° 42 ′  S , 139 ° 30 ′  E Coordinates: 16 ° 42 ′  S , 139 ° 30 ′  E
Number of islands	22nd
Main island	Mornington Island
Total land area	992 km²
Residents	1174

The Wellesley Islands (Engl. Wellesley Islands ) are a in the Gulf of Carpentaria off the north coast of the Australian state of Queensland located archipelago .

On the largest of the - depending on the counting method 22 to 30 - islands, Mornington Island , lies the city of Gununa . Otherwise, only Sweers Island is permanently inhabited by Australians of European descent.

geography

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Surname	Geocoordinate	sub- group	Residents	Area km²
Albinia Island	17 ° 04 ′ 20 ″  S , 139 ° 22 ′ 38 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	0.87
Allen Island	17 ° 02 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 14 ′ 00 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	10
Andrew Island	16 ° 45 ′ 35 ″  S , 139 ° 08 ′ 37 ″  E		uninhabited	0.63
Bayley Island	16 ° 53 ′ 34 ″  S , 139 ° 04 ′ 00 ″  E		uninhabited	2.5
Beahgoo Island	16 ° 40 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 27 ′ 22 ″  E		uninhabited	0.17
Bentinck Island	17 ° 03 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 30 ′ 00 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	40	140
Bessie Island	17 ° 00 ′ 16 ″  S , 139 ° 22 ′ 20 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	0.18
Denham Island	16 ° 43 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 10 ′ 00 ″  E		uninhabited	30th
Douglas Island	16 ° 57 ′ 17 ″  S , 139 ° 21 ′ 49 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	0.12
Forsyth Island	16 ° 49'00 "  S , 139 ° 07'00"  E		uninhabited	18th
Fowler Island	17 ° 07 ′ 17 ″  S , 139 ° 33 ′ 14 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	0.89
Horseshoe Island	16 ° 59 ′ 35 ″  S , 139 ° 16 ′ 08 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	1.7
Lingnoonganee (Wallaby) I.	16 ° 28 ′ 39 ″  S , 139 ° 43 ′ 11 ″  E		uninhabited	12
Little Allen Island	16 ° 59 ′ 34 ″  S , 139 ° 11 ′ 58 ″  E		uninhabited	0.15
Manowar Island	16 ° 13 ′ 50 ″  S , 139 ° 15 ′ 13 ″  E		uninhabited	0.04
Margaret Island	17 ° 01 ′ 39 ″  S , 139 ° 22 ′ 55 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	uninhabited	0.08
Moondalbee Island	16 ° 26 ′ 23 ″  S , 139 ° 46 ′ 20 ″  E		uninhabited	0.01
Mornington Island	16 ° 30 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 30 ′ 00 ″  E		1,130	1.002
North Bountiful Island	16 ° 39 ′ 36 ″  S , 139 ° 52 ′ 11 ″  E	Bountiful Islands	uninhabited	4.5
Pains Island	16 ° 52 ′ 10 ″  S , 139 ° 03 ′ 45 ″  E		uninhabited	1
Pisonia Island	16 ° 29 ′ 30 ″  S , 139 ° 48 ′ 27 ″  E		uninhabited	0.58
Rocky Island	16 ° 16 ′ 11 ″  S , 139 ° 16 ′ 33 ″  E		uninhabited	0.51
South Bountiful Island	16 ° 42 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 50 ′ 00 ″  E	Bountiful Islands	uninhabited	0.078
Sweers Island	17 ° 06 ′ 00 ″  S , 139 ° 37 ′ 00 ″  E	South Wellesley Islands	4th	11
Sydney Island	16 ° 41 ′ 23 "  S , 139 ° 27 ′ 33"  E		uninhabited?	10.46
Tulburrerr Island	16 ° 44 ′ 44 ″  S , 139 ° 17 ′ 18 ″  E		uninhabited	0.04

history

About 16,000 years before Christ, the sea level was 140 meters lower; the Gulf of Carpentaria was then still a lake. The rising sea then led to the formation of the Wellesley Islands about 5000 years before Christ.

For several millennia, people have lived as hunters and gatherers on the Wellesley Islands. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Lardil tribe lived primarily on Mornington Island, the Yangkaal on Forsyth Island, the Kaiadilt on the South Wellesley Islands and the Ganggalita on the neighboring mainland. The different tribes are combined to form the Tangkic group due to their similar languages .

The first European to sight the archipelago was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 . In 1802/03 the islands were mapped by the British navigator Matthew Flinders and named in honor of the then Governor General of India, Richard Colley-Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley . This was the older brother of the well-known British military Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington . Flinders spent nearly two weeks on Sweers Island repairing his ship Investigator . A tree in which he carved the ship's name has been in a museum in Brisbane since 1888.

In 1866, the Carnarvon settlement was built on Sweers Island to provide refuge for the people of Burketown . The epidemic known as the Gulf Fever was raging in Burketown at that time . Carnarvon was given up again around 1872.

After Christian missionaries reached Mornington Island in 1914, the Gununa settlement began to develop. The indigenous people of the Lardil and Yangkal tribes were settled there; later, in the 1940s, members of the South Wellesley Isles joined the Kaiadilt tribe. The last left Bentinck Island after a storm in 1948. With that, the last tribe of the Australian aborigines living in the coastal area had given up the traditional way of life. Since the 1980s, however, there have been efforts, especially by their descendants, to return to the original settlement areas. Forty to fifty people are now living on Bentinck Island again.

environment

Since only a few of the islands are permanently inhabited, the environment is largely intact. Guano was mined on Rocky Island in the 1920s. Rats have lived on the island since that time. Sweers Island has suffered the greatest damage in the past through settlement, grazing and the introduction of the cane toad .

fauna

Mammals

The waters around the Wellesley Islands are home to large numbers of dugongs . Also Irawadidelfine and Chinese white dolphins are found here.

Birds

The Wellesley Islands are a major resting place for migratory birds. The world's largest colony of common terns is on North Bountiful Island. The islands of Rocky Island and Manowar Island have the largest colony of white-bellied gannets in Eastern Australia, 60 percent of the Australian population of ariel frigate birds is found on Manowar Island, and the African rose tern , which is threatened in the northern hemisphere, nests in large numbers on South Bountiful Island.

Reptiles

Some of the Wellesley Islands, particularly North Bountiful Island, South Bountiful Island, Pisonia Island, and Rocky Island, are used as nesting beaches for green turtles . The reef turtle nests abundantly on the islands of North Bountiful Island, South Bountiful Island and Pisonia Island, and the olive ridged turtle has been sighted on the larger islands of the archipelago .

fishes

The Wellesley Islands are the only place in Australia where the narrow-toothed saw ray and gray sharpnose shark can be found.

economy

Economic activity is very weak; unemployment is therefore high. Mornington Island produces handicrafts for sale on the mainland.

tourism

Tourism does not play a major role for the whole of the archipelago. There are only two commercial providers of room and board, one on Mornington Island and another on Sweers Island. Hobby fishermen are the main target group. Otherwise, a permit is required to enter Mornington Island.

Web links

Commons : Wellesley Islands  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} http://mornislass.eq.edu.au/wcmss/index.php/Mornington-Island-Profile.html ( Memento from September 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Mornington Island ( Memento of September 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ ^{A b} Search result in the Australian Heritage database
4. ↑ http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/print.php?journal_id=59&j_id=5
5. ↑ The Bentinck Project (Eng.)