Dampier Archipelago

The Dampier Archipelago (English Dampier Archipelago ) is an archipelago of 42 largely uninhabited islands and rocks on a lake has an area of around 1,000 km ². He belongs to the Dampier Ward of the Local Government Area (about municipality ) Roebourne Shire in Western Australia's Pilbara region. 88 km to the west lie the Monte Bello Islands.

The individual islands are very different sizes of around one hectare to 3290 ha ( Enderby Iceland ). It is located in the eastern Indian Ocean off the town of Dampier. It received its name after the English buccaneer William Dampier, who sailed here in 1699 and one of the islands named Rosemary Iceland. After Dampier and the Burrup Peninsula lies to the east was named by early British settlers Dampier Iceland. The Mermaid Sound, the main waterway to Port Dampier, divides the archipelago into an eastern and a western group.

Northernmost point of the archipelago is Cape Legendre Legendre Iceland, at 20 ° 21 ' 20 " S, 116 ° 49' 54" E - 20.355555555556116.83166666667. Easternmost island is Delambre Iceland, western Egret Iceland, and southern West Intercourse Iceland.

A field study of the Western Australia Museum with the participation of researchers from 15 nations showed a diversity of approximately 3200 species for the area of the archipelago. This is similar to the biodiversity of the region, that of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland. Most of the islands are nature reserves, however, are to be made ecotourism available subject to conditions. The lying directly on the coast islands are partly industrial area, East Intercourse Iceland belongs to the city Dampier port.

On the islands of the archipelago is one of the largest collections of Australian Rock Art, in particular up to 30,000 year old rock carvings on rocks, which are expected to the largest collection of petroglyphs in the world. Until the 1860s cult sites of the aboriginal tribe of Jaburrara were on the islands, who were visiting members of other tribes.

In 1868 killed up to 150 Jaburrara during the Flying Foam massacre by the British colonizers after an incident on a pearl fishing boat, since that time, the islands gradually depopulated, at least since 1963, are uninhabited.

The Dampier Archipelago and the Purrup Peninsula are registered since 3 July 2007 the Australian National Heritage List as a cultural asset worth protecting.

Islands

F1 map with all coordinates of the Dampier Archipelago: OSM, Google and Bing