Melville Island (Australia)

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Melville Iceland lies off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. The second largest island after Tasmania of the country includes a land area of ​​5786 km ² and together with Bathurst Iceland, the group of Tiwi Islands.

As part of the Timor Sea, the Melville Iceland is separated on the south by the Clarence Strait from mainland Australia, while the only one to five kilometers wide Apsleystraße separates it from the neighboring Bathurst Iceland.

Like the Arnhem Land is the Melville Island quasi a blocked for tourism reserve for those living on their aborigines of Australia. The 600 Aborigines of Melville Iceland live relatively independent from the mainland and also have their own administration.

Melville Iceland was first sighted in 1644 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1818, and received its name in honor of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, a British nobleman and long-time First Lord of the Admiralty.