The Easter Group is the central of three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos

Houtman Abrolhos

The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. Nominally located at , it lies about eighty kilometres west of Geraldton, Western Australia...

 island chain. Nominally located at 28°44′S 113°46′E, it is about 20 kilometres by 12 kilometres, and consists of a number of islands including Rat Island, Wooded Island, Morley Island, Suomi Island and Alexander Island

Alexander Island (Houtman Abrolhos)

Alexander Island is one of the five largest islands in the Easter Group of the Houtman Abrolhos. It is nominally located at The island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of...

. Unlike the other groups the Easter Group has few shipwreck

Shipwreck

A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

s. The group is part of the Houtman Abrolhos 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...

, identified as such by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

The group was discovered and named in April 1840 by the crew of HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...

, under the command of John Clements Wickham

John Clements Wickham

John Clements Wickham was a naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was a Lieutenant on HMS Beagle during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836, which took the young naturalist Charles Darwin on what became the subject of his book, The Voyage of the Beagle...

. Stoke's journal, published as Discoveries in Australia

Discoveries in Australia

Discoveries in Australia; with an account of the coasts and rivers explored and surveyed during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43, by command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty...

in 1846, records the following for April 11:

Further reading

• Stanbury, Myra.(1993) Historic sites of the Easter Group, Houtman Abrolhos, WA : report prepared for the Abrolhos Islands Consultative Council other authors include - Ross White, Jenni Potts and Caroline Heine. Fremantle, W.A. Dept. of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum,

Report: Dept. of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum ; no. 66