Carnac Island
Encyclopedia
Carnac Island is a 19 ha, A Class, island nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 about 10 km south-west of Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

 in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

History

In 1803, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 explorer Louis de Freycinet
Louis de Freycinet
Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was a French navigator. He circumnavigated the earth, and was one of the first to produce a comprehensive map of the coastline of Australia.-Biography:...

, captain of the Casuarina, named the island Île Pelée (Bald Island). It was also known as Île Lévilian and later Île Berthelot. In 1827, James Stirling
James Stirling (Australian governor)
Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...

 changed its name to Pulo Carnac Island in honour of John Rivett Carnac
John Rivett-Carnac
Admiral John Rivett-Carnac or John Rivett Carnac was an officer in the Royal Navy who became an early explorer in Western Australia. He later attained the rank of admiral....

, Second Lieutenant on his ship HMS Success
HMS Success (1825)
HMS Success was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate wooden sailing ship notable for exploring Western Australia and the Swan River in 1827 as well as being one of the first ships to arrive at the fledgling Swan River Colony two years later, at which time she ran aground off Carnac Island.- History...

. "Pulo" is Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

 for "Island"; it is not known why Stirling included the term, and it was soon dropped. In the early days of the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

 the island was used as a penal settlement for Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

.

Fauna

The island is home to Australian Sea Lion
Australian Sea Lion
The Australian Sea Lion , also known as the Australian Sea-lion or Australian Sealion, is a species of sea lion that breeds only on the south and west coasts of Australia...

s, Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...

s and a large range of marine bird life. It is particularly noted for the abundance of snakes, particularly Tiger Snakes, which live there. For this reason, very few people venture there. There is no permanent fresh water, providing a challenge for the animals that live there. The origins of the Tiger Snake colony has attracted significant debate and research into how that species has adapted to a harsh island habitat.
Carnac is classified as an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 because it supports a large colony of the vulnerable
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

 Fairy Tern
Fairy Tern
The Fairy Tern is a small tern which occurs in the southwestern Pacific.There are three subspecies:* Australian Fairy Tern, Sterna nereis nereis - breeds in Australia...

, as well as small numbers of other nesting seabirds.
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