Map - Michaelmas Island (Michaelmas Island)

Michaelmas Island (Michaelmas Island)
Michaelmas Island is an island located in King George Sound near Albany, Western Australia.

The island is a nature reserve (declared in 1983) and managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife; its reserve number is 30049. The island is also registered as a national estate. The island is 91.9 ha in area.

Michaelmas Island has steep rocky shores with submerged reefs all along its northern southern and eastern sides in depths up to 30 m with large granite boulders. The faces are covered in a diverse range in corals and sponges and home to a wide variety of marine life. A whale chaser “Cheynes III” that was scuttled in 1982 is located off the western side of the island and is regarded highly as a diving site. Michaelmas Island is an important habitat for both resident and migratory birds. The habitat of these species is threatened by weed invasion such as Taylorina and feral animals such as rats.

George Vancouver named many of the landforms around Albany when he entered King George Sound in 1791 including Michaelmas Island (discovered on Michaelmas Day), King George Sound, Breaksea Island, Oyster Harbour and Point Possession. Vancouver described the island as being covered in rich grasses and other vegetables. Before leaving he planted some vine cuttings, some water cresses, and sowed various seeds. Matthew Flinders landed on the island in 1801 and reported the island to be covered in wiry grasses and stunted shrubs, also it was covered in rat holes.

In 2016 the island was chosen as a new habitat site for the critically endangered Gilbert's Potoroo. The island's lack of predators was a key factor in its selection, which will provide the Gilbert's Potoroo with a similar level of long-term protection enjoyed by the quokkas of Rottnest Island, also in Western Australia.

 
Map - Michaelmas Island (Michaelmas Island)
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
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