The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an
archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying 20 km (12 mi) north of
Barrow Island and 130 km (81 mi) off the
Pilbara coast of north-western Australia. The islands form a marine conservation reserve of 58,331 ha (144,139 acres) administered by the
Western AustralianDepartment of Environment and Conservation. The islands were the site of three British atmospheric
nuclear weapons tests in 1952 and 1956.[1]
Description
The islands of the archipelago have a collective land area of about 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi). The largest islands, Hermite and Trimouille, have areas of 1,022 ha (2,525 acres) and 522 ha (1,290 acres) respectively. They consist of
limestone rock and
sand. The rocky parts are dominated by Triodia hummock
grassland with scattered
shrubs, while the sandy areas support grasses,
sedges and shrubs, mainly Acacia. Patches of
mangroves grow in sheltered bays and channels of the archipelago, especially at Hermite Island. The climate is hot and
arid with an annual average rainfall of about 320 mm.[2]
Invasiveferal cats and
black rats have been eradicated from the islands, allowing endangered
rufous hare-wallabies (mala) and
Shark Bay mice to be translocated to the islands under the conservation management strategy for these threatened species.[2] They are now common on many of the larger islands.
The islands are an important site for sooty oystercatchers
In 1622 Tryall, an
English East India Company-owned
East Indiaman, was wrecked on the
Tryal Rocks, uncharted submerged rocks about 32 kilometres (20 mi) northwest of the outer edge of the Montebello Islands. The ship's
factor Thomas Bright and 35 others sailed a longboat to the Montebello Islands and spent seven days ashore, before sailing the longboat to
Bantam in Java. This was the first recorded shipwreck in Australian waters and the first extended stay in Australia by Europeans.[6][7]
The Montebello Islands were the site of three atmospheric nuclear weapon tests by the
British military: one in 1952, and two in 1956.[9][10]
HMS Plym, moored in Main Bay on Trimouille Island, was the site of
Operation Hurricane, the first-ever atomic weapon tested by the United Kingdom, on 3 October 1952.[11][12]
While
subsequent British tests were conducted at sites on mainland Australia, in 1956 there were two land-sited tower-mounted tests, on Trimouille and Alpha Islands.[13] The second of these, codenamed "
Mosaic G2", was the largest nuclear explosion in Australia, with an official yield of 60
kilotons. Mosaic G2 was later described as an "exceptionally dirty explosion", whose fallout contaminated large areas of mainland Australia, as far away as the
Queensland towns of Mount Isa, Julia Creek, Longreach and Rockhampton.[14][15][16]
^Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed. (1884). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, East Indies, China and Persia, 1625-1629. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts. p. 13.
Bird, Peter (1989). Operation Hurricane. Square One Publications: Worcester. (First published in 1953).
ISBN1-872017-10-X
Burbidge, A. A. (1971). The Fauna and Flora of the Monte Bello Islands. Department of Fisheries and Fauna: Perth.
Deegan, P. M. (1992). Monte Bello and Lowendal Islands: bibliography, summary report of marine resources. Dept. of Conservation and Land Management: Perth.
Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter; and West-Sooby, John (2004). Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders. Wakefield Press: Kent Town, South Australia.
ISBN1-86254-625-8
Horner, Frank (1987). The French Reconnaissance: Baudin in Australia 1801–1803. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne.
ISBN0-522-84339-5.
Tuckfield, Trevor (1 August 1951). "The Monte Bello Islands". Walkabout, Vol. 17, No. 8. pp. 33–34.