Sir Graham Moore Island (Western Australia)

Sir Graham Moore Island is located off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia.

"Sir Graham Moore Island" redirects here. For other uses, see Sir Graham Moore Islands (disambiguation).

Sir Graham Moore Island
Location of Sir Graham Moore Island

The island encompasses an area of 2,746 hectares (6,786 acres).[1] It is situated within the Sir Graham Moore Islands group, about 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of Kalumburu.

Originally, the island was inhabited by a band of the Kambure people. Today, by succession, the traditional owners of the island and the Barurungari group, of the Worrorran language group, whose name for the island is Niiwalarra.[2] The Jaurinanda peoples who had once inhabited the island once traded with the Makassan who routinely visited the area sometime between 1669 and 1763. Both groups harvested and processed sea cucumber with the Jaurinanda incorporating several Malay words into their language.[2]

The group and island were named in 1819 by Phillip Parker King after Sir Graham Moore who held a seat of the board of the English Admiralty Board.[1]

A LORAN radar site was established on the north west corner of the island during World War II by American and Australian forces. The site consisted of a radar building, radio building, a powerhouse and a campsite. The concrete pad for the main building are all that remain today.[3]

The island once supported a population of feral pigs but by 2009 they had died out, apparently from the only fresh water source becoming saline following erosion from a cyclone.[1]

References
  1. "Status Performance Assessment: Biodiversity conservation of Western Australian Islands" (PDF). Government of Western Australia. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  2. T. Vigilante; et al. (2013). "Biodiversity values on selected Kimberley Islands, Australia" (PDF). Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  3. "Loran Radar Station, Kalumburu, WA, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Retrieved 17 August 2014.

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