Doubtful Islands

Doubtful Islands is located in Western Australia
Doubtful Islands
Doubtful Islands
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Location of Doubtful Islands

Doubtful Islands are a group of three small islands[1] located approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) offshore of Point Hood and approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Bremer Bay in Western Australia.

The islands occupy an area of approximately 170 hectares (420 acres)[2] and are found at the southern end of Doubtful Islands Bay in the Great Southern region.

The islands were named by George Vancouver in 1791, the name derived from his being doubtful that these were islands at all. Matthew Flinders confirmed that the group were islands in 1802 while on expedition in the area.[3]

Two whaling stations were established around the islands in 1837, one by George Cheyne and the other by Thomas Booker Sherratt.[4][5]

John Thomas, the owner of a whaling fleet based at Cheyne Beach, often hunted for right whales around Doubtful Islands in October and November in the early 1860s. Another whaler named John MacKenzie lost two of his crew off Doubtful Islands when attacked by a small whale.[6]

In 2003, nine badly gashed sperm whales were washed up on reefs near the island. Six of the whales were dead and the others had to be euthanised.[7]

New Zealand fur seals are known to inhabit the island although the population has nearly halved between 1999 and 2011 despite an overall population increase along the south coast of Western Australia.[8]

Doubtful Islands
  1. ^ "Introduced mammals on Western Australian Islands" (PDF). Department of Conservation and Land Management. March 2004. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Map of Doubtful Islands, WA". Bonzle Digital Atlas. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Long years ago". Albany Advertiser. Albany, Western Australia: National Library of Australia. 13 October 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Albany's Early Years: 1837 – 1846". Albany Gateway. 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  5. ^ P. M. Anderson. "The early shipping history of the south east coast" (PDF). Esperance Island Cruises. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  6. ^ "Captain Sale's Memories Part 1: Pioneer settlers and whalers". Albany Gateway. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Gashed whales washed ashore in Western Australia". The Age. 28 September 2003. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  8. ^ "New Zealand fur seals head west in record numbers". News Limited. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2015.