Quail Island is an island in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
of Australia in the
Beagle Gulf
Beagle Gulf is a gulf in the Northern Territory of Australia which opens on its west side to the Timor Sea. The gulf is bounded to the south by the mainland and to the north by Bathurst and Melville Islands. It is connected to Van Diemen Gulf ...
about from the territory capital of
Darwin.
Quail Island belongs to the Quail Island Group. The other two islands in the archipelago are Bare Sand Island (southwest of Quail Island) and Djadjalbit Island (south).
The islands are known for being a
breeding ground
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
for
flatback turtles.
History
On 9 October 1881 when
''SS Brisbane'', an 85.8 metres long passenger, cargo and mail ship, built by
A & J Inglis, Pointhouse, Glasgow, struck the nearby ''Fish Reef'', while heading there with cargo from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
.
Quail Island Air Weapons Range
The Quail Island Air Weapons Range was used a training ground for defense forces from 1945 to 1979.
There are large munitions scattered around the island as a result. A three-year clean-up began in 2011 to remove hazards such as unexploded ordnance.
Visitors such as tourists and recreational anglers have been banned from the islands during the clean-up process.
See also
*
*
List of islands of Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
Largest islands
The islands larger than are:
* Tasmania (Tas) ;
* Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT ...
References
Islands of the Northern Territory
Timor Sea
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