View source for Bourke Isles

{{Short description|Group of islands and islets in the Torres Strait Islands}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Bourke Isles
| native_name      = <!-- or |local_name= -->
| native_name_link = 
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| sobriquet        = <!-- or |nickname= -->
| image_name       = Yam Island (Landsat).png
| image_size       = 220px
| image_caption    = A [[Landsat]] image of [[Yam Island (Queensland)|Yam Island]], one of the Bourke Isles
| image_alt        = 
| map_image        = TorresStraitIslandsMap.png
| map_alt          = 
| map_size         = 220px
| map_caption      = A map of the [[Torres Strait Islands]] showing [[Yam Island (Queensland)|Yam Island]] as ''Iama'' in central waters of the [[Torres Strait]]
| coordinates      = {{nowrap|{{coord|9.8999|S|143.3947|E|source:wikidata_type:isle_region:AU-QLD|display=title,inline|format=dms}}}}
| etymology        = [[Richard Bourke]]<ref name="pnd"/>
| location         = Cumberland Passage, [[Northern Australia]]
| archipelago      = [[Torres Strait Islands]]
| waterbody        = [[Torres Strait]]
| total_islands    =
| major_islands    = [[Yam Island (Queensland)|Yam Island]]
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| country          = [[Australia]]
| country_admin_divisions_title     = [[States and territories of Australia|State]]
| country_admin_divisions           = [[Queensland]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = {{nowrap|[[Local government in Queensland|Local government area]]}}
| country_admin_divisions_1         = [[Torres Strait Island Region]]
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| ethnic_groups    = [[Torres Strait Islanders]]
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}}
[[File:Aukane island.jpg|thumb|Aukane Island]]
[[File:Roberts Island (Torres Strait).jpg|thumb|Roberts Islet]]

The '''Bourke Isles''' are a group of [[island]]s and [[islet]]s in the [[archipelago]] known as the [[Torres Strait Islands]], located west of the Cumberland Passage in the [[Torres Strait]], and are part of the state of [[Queensland]], Australia.<ref name="pnd" /> The isles are situated approximately {{convert|130|km}} northeast of [[Thursday Island, Queensland|Thursday Island]] and {{convert|54|km}} southwest of [[Darnley Island (Queensland)|Darnley Island]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Map of Bourke Isles, QLD|work=Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia|url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=11307&cmd=sp|access-date=26 April 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923193742/http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=11307&cmd=sp|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Bourke Isles, which comprise seven small islands or [[islet]]s, are located within the [[Torres Strait Island Region]], a [[Local government in Queensland|Queensland local government area]].

==The islands==
The named Bourke Isles include:
*Aukane Islet<ref name="pnd"/>
*Aureed Island<ref name=vp4>{{cite web| title=Part Four: a tale of two boys| first=Veronica| last=Peek| website=Charles Eaton: wake for the melancholy shipwreck| date=16 June 2012| url=https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/12/part-four-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/| access-date=5 August 2021| archive-date=5 August 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805034958/https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/12/part-four-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/| url-status=live}}</ref>
*Bourke Island<ref name="pnd"/>
*Kabbikane Islet<ref name="pnd"/>
*Layoak Islet<ref name="pnd"/>
*Mimi Islet
*Roberts Islet
*[[Yam Island (Queensland)|Yam Island]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tsirc.qld.gov.au/Iama|title=Iama (Yam Island)|publisher=[[Torres Strait Island Region]]|date=2015|access-date=26 April 2015|archive-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318153213/http://www.tsirc.qld.gov.au/Iama|url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
The islands were named in mid-1836 by Charles Lewis, the Commander of the [[schooner]] ''Isabella'' from the [[Colony of New South Wales]], in honour of [[Richard Bourke]], at the time, the [[Governor of New South Wales]].<ref name="pnd">{{cite QPN|4080|Bourke Isles|access-date=30 August 2015}}</ref>

===Aureed===
{{further|Charles Eaton (1833 ship)}}
In June 1836, the colonial schooner ''Isabella'' was despatched from Sydney under Captain Lewis<ref name=vp3>{{cite web | title=Part Three: their fate is so horrible | website=Charles Eaton: wake for the melancholy shipwreck | first=Veronica | last=Peek | date=16 June 2012 | url=https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/15/part-three-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/ | access-date=5 August 2021 | archive-date=5 August 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805035003/https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/15/part-three-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/ | url-status=live }}</ref> to search for survivors of the barque ''[[Charles Eaton (1833 ship)|Charles Eaton]]'',<ref name="pnd"/> which had been wrecked on the Great Detached Reef, part of the [[Great Barrier Reef]] near the [[Sir Charles Hardy Islands]] on 15 August 1834. It turned out that most of the crew and passengers who had survived the wreck and sailed on rafts to the Torres Strait, had been killed by [[Torres Strait Islander]]s from [[Mer Island|Mer]], but a [[cabin boy]] and infant boy had been spared and lived with the Mer people for two years.<ref name=vp2>{{cite web | title=Charles Eaton: Wake for the melancholy shipwreck | website=Charles Eaton Shipwreck | date=17 June 2012 | url=https://veronicapeek.com/category/charles-eaton-shipwreck-2/ | access-date=5 August 2021 | archive-date=5 August 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805035340/https://veronicapeek.com/category/charles-eaton-shipwreck-2/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=mcinnes1981>{{cite journal| title=The wreck of the "Charles Eaton"| journal=Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland| volume=11| issue=4| pages=21–50| last=McInnes| first=Allan, 1927-| publisher=[[Royal Historical Society of Queensland]]| date=1981| url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:241150| quote=Read to a Meeting of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland on 24 February 1983.| via=[[University of Queensland]]| access-date=5 August 2021| archive-date=4 August 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804095815/https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:241150| url-status=live}} (Also [https://www.textqueensland.com.au/item/article/9ef90538f7333c5e08b89061453c9a5d here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312172324/https://www.textqueensland.com.au/item/article/9ef90538f7333c5e08b89061453c9a5d |date=12 March 2021 }}.)</ref> The two survivors were rescued by Captain Lewis, after which Captain Lewis and his crew took masks from Mer while interacting with the local people.<ref name=vp4/>

After being told by a group of locals on the island of Massid ([[Yorke Island (Queensland)|Yorke Island]], or Masig) that men from Aureed had taken skulls back to that island, Lewis went to explore the group of small islands that he called the "Six Sisters", one of which was Aureed. Anchoring there, armed men went on to the island and found it deserted, the village abandoned. After burning the village to the ground, the men found a dilapidated shed, and in it a huge mask made of a single decorated turtle shell surrounded by human skulls of Europeans. This was later identified as a "skull house" used by the [[Kulka (god)|Kulka]] fraternity of a local cult. Lewis and his men took the skulls and mask, and set fire to everything on the island, including plantations of [[tobacco]]. Lewis dubbed the island "Skull Island", although this name was not taken up.<ref name=vp4/>

==See also==
{{stack|{{Portal|Queensland|Islands}}}}
*[[List of Torres Strait Islands]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Torres Strait |state=autocollapse}}

[[Category:Torres Strait Islands]]
[[Category:Torres Strait Island Region]]