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Montebello Islands

Coordinates:20°28′S115°32′E / 20.46°S 115.54°E /-20.46; 115.54
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Island group in Western Australia

Montebello Islands is located in Western Australia
Montebello Islands
Montebello Islands
Location of the Montebello Islands

20°28′S115°32′E / 20.46°S 115.54°E /-20.46; 115.54

Map of the Montebellos and Barrow Island
Nuclear test mushroom cloud
The mushroom cloud resulting from the Operation Hurricane detonation on Trimouille Island

TheMontebello Islands, also rendered as theMonte Bello Islands, are anarchipelago of around 174 small islands, about 92 of which are named, lying 20 km (12 mi) north ofBarrow Island and 130 km (81 mi) off thePilbara coast of north-western Australia. The islands form a marine conservation reserve of 58,331 ha (144,139 acres) administered by theWestern AustralianDepartment of Environment and Conservation. The islands were the site of three British atmosphericnuclear weapons tests, in 1952 and 1956.[1]

Description

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The islands of the archipelago have a collective land area of about 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi). The largest islands, Hermite and Trimouille, have an area of 1,022 ha (2,525 acres) and 522 ha (1,290 acres) respectively. They consist oflimestone rock andsand. The rocky parts are dominated byTriodia hummockgrassland with scatteredshrubs, while the sandy areas support grasses such assedges, and shrubs, mainlyAcacia. Patches ofmangroves grow in sheltered bays and channels of the archipelago, especially on Hermite Island. The climate is hot andarid with an annual average rainfall of about 320 mm.[2]

Wildlife

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Birds

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The islands have been identified byBirdLife International as anImportant Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations offairy androseate terns, and ofsooty oystercatchers.[3]Greater crested terns breed there irregularly, sometimes in large numbers. Other birds breeding on the islands includeospreys,white-bellied sea eagles,pied oystercatchers,Caspian terns andbridled terns. The islands support 12–15 breeding pairs ofbeach stone-curlews.Yellow white-eyes have been recorded.[2]

Mammals

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Invasiveferal cats andblack rats have been eradicated from the islands, allowing endangeredrufous hare-wallabies (mala) andShark Bay mice to be translocated to the islands under the conservation management strategy for those threatened species,[2] and they are now common on many of the larger islands.

  • Sooty oystercatcher standing on a rock
    The islands are an important site for sooty oystercatchers
  • Beach stone-curlew
    Beach stone-curlews inhabit the islands
  • Lithograph of a pair of mala
    Mala have been introduced to the islands

History

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Archaeological remains show that the islands were visited byindigenous Australians until about 8248BP, when aperiod of global warming andrising sea levels caused the Montebellos to become separated from the mainland, and forced their abandonment.[4][5]

In 1622Tryall, anEnglish East India Company-ownedEast Indiaman, was wrecked on theTryal Rocks, areef of uncharted submerged rocks about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north-west of the outer edge of the Montebello Islands. The ship'sfactor, Thomas Bright, along with 35 others, sailed a longboat to the Montebello Islands and spent seven days ashore there, before sailing the longboat toBantam in Java. It was the first recorded shipwreck in Australian waters and the first extended stay in Australia byEuropeans.[6][7]

In 1801,Nicolas Baudin, leading aFrench Navy exploration expedition, named the island group after theBattle of Montebello of 1800, Hermite Island after AdmiralJean-Marthe-Adrien L'Hermite, and Trimouille Island after French generalLouis II de la Trémoille.

The islands were economically significant forpearl fishing from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of theSecond World War.[8]

British nuclear weapons tests

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Main article:British nuclear weapons tests

The Montebello Islands were the site of three atmospheric nuclear weapon tests by theBritish military: one in 1952, and two in 1956.[9][10]

HMSPlym, moored in Main Bay on Trimouille Island, was the site ofOperation Hurricane, the first atomic weapon tested by the United Kingdom, on 3 October 1952.[11][12]

Whilesubsequent British tests were conducted at sites on mainland Australia, in 1956 there were two land-sited tower-mounted tests, on Trimouille and Alpha Islands.[13] The second of those, codenamed "Mosaic G2", was the largest nuclear explosion in Australia, with an official yield of 60 kilotons. Mosaic G2 was later described as an "exceptionally dirty explosion", the fallout from which contaminated large areas of mainland Australia, as far away as theQueensland towns of Mount Isa, Julia Creek, Longreach and Rockhampton.[14][15][16]

Islands

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Further information:List of named islands in the Montebello Islands archipelago
NASA World Wind satellite image of the main Montebello Island group (2006)

Of the smaller islands, the largest are:

  • North-West Island
  • Primrose Island
  • Bluebell Island
  • Alpha Island
  • Crocus Island
  • Campbell Island
  • Delta Island
  • Renewal Island
  • Ah Chong Island

There are also 10 named groups of small islets, whose individual islands have not yet been named:

  • Corkwood Islands
  • Fig Islands
  • Hakea Islands
  • Jarrah Islands
  • Jasmine Islands
  • Karri Islands
  • Marri Islands
  • Minnieritchie Islands
  • Mulga Islands
  • Quandong Islands

References

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  1. ^"Management Plan for the Montebello/Barrow Islands Marine Conservation Reserves 2007–2017"(PDF). Perth, WA: Department of Environment and Conservation. 16 January 2018. Retrieved13 August 2021.
  2. ^abcBirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Montebello Islands. Downloaded fromhttp://www.birdlife.org on 16/08/2011.
  3. ^"IBA: Montebello Islands".Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved16 August 2011.
  4. ^Manne, Tiina; Veth, Peter (January 2015). "Late Pleistocene and early Holocene exploitation of estuarine communities in northwestern Australia".Quaternary International.385 (385):112–123.Bibcode:2015QuInt.385..112M.doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.12.049.
  5. ^Veth, Peter; Aplin, Ken; Wallis, Lynley; Manne, Tiina; Pulsford, Tim; White, Elizabeth; Chappell, Alan (2007).The Archaeology of Montebello Islands, North-West Australia: Late Quaternary foragers on an arid coastline. Oxford: Archaeopress.doi:10.30861/9781407301037.ISBN 9781407301037. Retrieved18 May 2023.
  6. ^Lee, Ida (April 1934)."The First Sighting of Australia by the English".The Geographical Journal.83 (4).Royal Geographical Society:317–321.Bibcode:1934GeogJ..83..317L.doi:10.2307/1786489.JSTOR 1786489.
  7. ^Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed. (1884).Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, East Indies, China and Persia, 1625-1629. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts. p. 13.
  8. ^Stansbury, Myra (January 1986).A survey of sites associated with early pearling activities in the Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia(PDF). Fremantle: Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum. Retrieved11 August 2021.
  9. ^Cooper, M.B.; Hartley, B.M. (April 1979).Residual Radioactive Contamination of the Monte Bello Islands from Nuclear Weapon Tests Conducted in 195 and 1956(PDF). Australian Radiation Laboratory.
  10. ^Benjamin C. Garrett (25 August 2017).Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 202–.ISBN 978-1-5381-0684-6.
  11. ^Richard Tykva; Dieter Berg (14 March 2013).Man-Made and Natural Radioactivity in Environmental Pollution and Radiochronology. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 119–.ISBN 978-94-017-0496-0.
  12. ^Michael Wainwright (14 February 2017).Game Theory and Postwar American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 116–.ISBN 978-1-137-60133-9.
  13. ^"British Nuclear Testing".Britain's Nuclear Weapons. 23 August 2007. Retrieved13 August 2021.
  14. ^Connor, Steve (24 May 1984)."The nuclear blast that Britain kept secret".New Scientist. London. p. 4.ISSN 0262-4079. Retrieved13 August 2021.
  15. ^Walker, Frank (26 August 2014).Maralinga: The chilling expose of our secret nuclear shame and betrayal of our troops and country. Hachette Australia. pp. 58–.ISBN 978-0-7336-3205-1.
  16. ^Cross, Roger. (2001).Fallout. Wakefield Press. (p.179).

Further reading

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  • Acaster, Ray (1995). "British nuclear testing at the Monte Bello Islands".Early Days Vol. 11, no. 1. pp. 66–80.
  • Arnold, Lorna; Smith, Mark (2006).Britain, Australia and the Bomb: The Nuclear Tests and Their Aftermath. Palgrave MacMillan.ISBN 1-4039-2102-4
  • Bird, Peter (1989).Operation Hurricane. Square One Publications: Worcester. (First published in 1953).ISBN 1-872017-10-X
  • Burbidge, A. A. (1971).The Fauna and Flora of the Monte Bello Islands. Department of Fisheries and Fauna: Perth.
  • Deegan, P. M. (1992).Monte Bello and Lowendal Islands: bibliography, summary report of marine resources. Dept. of Conservation and Land Management: Perth.
  • Duyker, Edward (2006).François Péron: An Impetuous Life: Naturalist and Voyager. Miegunyah/MUP: Melbourne.ISBN 978-0-522-85260-8
  • Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter; and West-Sooby, John (2004).Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders. Wakefield Press: Kent Town, South Australia.ISBN 1-86254-625-8
  • Horner, Frank (1987).The French Reconnaissance: Baudin in Australia 1801–1803. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne.ISBN 0-522-84339-5.
  • Tuckfield, Trevor (1 August 1951). "The Monte Bello Islands".Walkabout, Vol. 17, No. 8. pp. 33–34.

External links

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