Dirk Hartog Island

Dirk Hartog Island National Park

Native name: Wirruwana
Dirk Hartog Island is situated off the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia.
Geography
Location	Indian Ocean
Coordinates	25°50′S 113°05′E / 25.833°S 113.083°E / -25.833; 113.083
Area	620 km2 (240 sq mi)
Length	80 km (50 mi)
Width	15 km (9.3 mi)
Highest elevation	188 m (617 ft)
Highest point	Herald Heights
Administration
Australia
State	Western Australia
Region	Gascoyne
Shire	Shire of Shark Bay
Demographics
Population	9 (SAL 2021)[1]

Dirk Hartog Island is an island off the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) long and between 3 and 15 kilometres (1.9 and 9.3 miles) wide and is Western Australia's largest and most western island. It covers an area of 620 square kilometres (240 square miles) and is approximately 850 kilometres (530 miles) north of Perth.

Known as Wirruwana by the traditional custodians of the island, the Malgana people,^[2] the island is named after Dirk Hartog, a Dutch sea captain, whose ship first encountered the Western Australian coastline in 1616, close to the 26th parallel south latitude, which runs through the island. After leaving the island, Hartog continued his voyage north-east along the coast, giving the Australian mainland one of its earliest known names, Eendrachtsland, which he named after his ship Eendracht, meaning "concord".

The island is now the site of a major environmental reconstruction project, Return to 1616, that has seen all introduced livestock and feral animals removed, and eleven native species in various stages of reintroduction.^[3]