Mount Adolphus Island, also called ''Muri'' or ''Mori'' in the native language, is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

that is located at the very tip of

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

on the northern side of the

Adolphus Channel The Adolphus Channel is a channel located in the Torres Strait, situated northeast of Cape York, in Queensland, Australia. Geography The channel runs north of the Albany Island, one of the islands of the Manar group of the Torres Strait Is ...

, across from

Albany Island Albany Island or Pabaju is an island off the north-eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in the Adolphus Channel of Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset in the Shire of Torres. Geography Albany Island is off the no ...

and about northeast of

Bamaga Bamaga ( , ) is an Indigneous town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australi ...

in the far north region of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Geography

Mount Adolphus Island is long, and wide at its widest point. It measures in area. It is located from the Australian mainland. The island's highest elevation is the flat-topped Mount Adolphus () at the height of

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Coastal features on Mount Adolphus Island include (clockwise from north): * Lacey Island () * Little Adolphus Island () * Salter Island () * Nicklin Islet () * North East Bluff () * Morilug Islet, also known as Tiakan Islet () * Akone Islet () * Pinnacle Peak () * Cambridge Point () * Dickey Point () * Blackwood Bay ()

History

Djagaraga (also known as Yadhaigana, Dyagaraga and Yagulleone) is of the languages from the tip of Cape York. The language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Isl ...

. Traditionally the language was spoken on Eastern Cape York particularly the localities of

and Mount Adolphus Island.

Shipwrecks

* ''Aliquis'', a ship captained by Gill and sailed from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, was lost near Mount Adolphus Island, Torres Strait, in May 1839. There were no deaths. The crew were picked up by the ship ''Argyle'', also bound Sydney to India. * , an iron steamship of that was built at Dumbarton, Scotland in 1881. Owned by the

British India Steam Navigation Company British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. History The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading part ...

and captained by Alfred Sanders, the ship was bound from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 6 February 1890. It foundered when she struck a needle of uncharted coral in Mount Adolphus Channel, on 28 February 1890. 134 people died, and there were 158 survivors. A submerged rock had ripped through six water-tight compartments of the hull, from the bows to the engine room. Stokers were killed instantly as water rushed onto the boilers, causing them to explode. Lower-deck portholes burst under the water pressure, and the sea flooded in, swamping passengers asleep in their bunks. For half a minute the ship hung at a 45-degree angle, then she slid slowly beneath the surface. Within less than five minutes of striking the rock she was gone.

References

{{Torres Strait , state=autocollapse Torres Strait Islands Islands of Far North Queensland

Geography

History

Shipwrecks

See also

References