Depuch Island
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters". Depuch Island (or Warmalana) is a volcanic island located off the north-west coast of Western Australia's Pilbara region, near Port Hedland.
Aboriginal significance
The island is of cultural importance to the Ngaluma Aboriginal people, who know it as Warmalana.[1][2]Script error: No such module "Unsubst". According to Ngaluma legend, the island was formed during the Dreaming when Matalga, a leading Pilbara spirit man, lifted a large rock and threw it into the sea. The rocks and boulders of the island are covered with Aboriginal engravings and rock art.[3]
European exploration
The island was charted in July 1801 by François-Michel Ronsard, the cartographer on a French expedition led by explorer Nicolas Baudin on board the ship Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The island was named Script error: No such module "Lang". after Louis Depuch, a mineralogist on Baudin's expedition. After a visit to the island, Ronsard established that it was volcanic, and was the first evidence of volcanic activity on the Australian continent the expedition had discovered.[4]
In 1912, a Norwegian steel sailing ship, Crown of England, was shipwrecked as it lay anchored on the island loading copper ore, after the area was struck by a cyclone. Many other ships were sunk in the area, such as the passenger liner Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"..[5] The newly built tug Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". sailing for Fremantle was despatched to rescue the barque Concordia which was left grounded by the storm.[6]
Recent activity
The discovery of iron ore deposits in the Pilbara region during the early 1960s saw Depuch Island considered for use as a port for the mining facilities being established in the area. In 1962, however, a survey by the Western Australian Museum discovered thousands of Aboriginal engravings, and the port was moved to the Dampier Archipelago.[7]
References
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- ↑ Chart of Depuch Island Template:Webarchive, Freycinet Collection, State Library of Western Australia.
- ↑ Wreck Finder – Koombana Template:Webarchive, Western Australian Museum, 2003.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Archaeology and rock art in the Dampier Archipelago – Industrial development and archaeological investigation, National Trust of Australia.
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