Ashmore and Cartier Islands

The Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands[1] is an uninhabited Australian external territory[2] consisting of four low-lying tropical islands in two separate reefs (Ashmore and Cartier), as well as the 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial sea generated by the islands.[3] The territory is located in the Indian Ocean situated on the edge of the continental shelf, about 320 km (199 mi) off the northwest coast of Australia and 144 km (89 mi) south of the Indonesian island of Rote.[3]

Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Location of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Geography
LocationIndian Ocean
Coordinates12°15′30″S 123°02′30″E
Major islands4
Administration
Demographics
Population0 (July 2021)

Ashmore Reef is called Pulau Pasir by Indonesians and Nusa Solokaek in the Rotenese language. Both names have the meaning "sand island".[4]

Geography
A map of Ashmore and Cartier Islands

The territory comprises Ashmore Reef, which includes West, Middle and East Islands, in addition to two lagoons, as well as Cartier Reef, which includes Cartier Island. Ashmore Reef covers approximately 583 km2 (225.1 sq mi) and Cartier Reef 167 km2 (64 sq mi), both measurements extending to the limits of the reefs.[5]

West, Middle and East Islands have a combined land area variously reported as 54 hectares (130 acres),[6] 93 hectares (230 acres)[7] and 112 hectares (280 acres).[8] Cartier Island has a reported land area of 0.4 hectares (0.99 acres).[7]

History

According to Australian literature,[9] Cartier Island was visited by Captain Nash in 1800, and named after his ship Cartier. Ashmore Island was seen by Captain Samuel Ashmore in 1811 from his ship Hibernia and named after him. Ashmore Island was annexed by the United Kingdom in 1878, as was Cartier Island in 1909.[10]

After their annexation, the British Government occasionally granted licences on the islands for fishing or guano extraction.[11] In the 1920s, the islands were used as a base for poachers targeting the Western Australian pearling industry. The lack of effective policing led to Australian lobbying for a transfer of control.[12]

A British order-in-council dated 23 July 1931 stated that Ashmore and Cartier Islands would be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia when Australia passed legislation to accept them, and formal administration began two years later.[13] The Commonwealth's resulting Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933 came into operation on 10 May 1934, when the islands formally became a territory. The act authorised the Governor of Western Australia to make ordinances for the territory. In July 1938 the territory was annexed to the Northern Territory, then also administered by the Commonwealth, whose laws, ordinances and regulations applied to the Northern Territory. When self-government was granted to the Northern Territory on 1 July 1978, administration of Ashmore and Cartier Islands was retained by the Commonwealth.[3][14]

In 1983, the territory was declared a nature reserve under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975,[3] now replaced by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.[15] Cartier Island, which was a former bombing range, became a marine reserve in 2000.

After the islands became a first point of contact with the Australian migration zone, in September 2001, the Australian Government excised the Ashmore and Cartier Islands from the Australian migration zone.[3]

Indonesian heritage and memorandum

Ashmore has been regularly visited and fished by Indonesian fishermen since the early eighteenth century. A 1974 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Australia and Indonesia sets out arrangements by which traditional fishers can access resources in Australia's territorial sea in the region. This allows traditional Indonesian fishermen to access parts of Ashmore for shelter, freshwater and to visit grave sites. The area, known as the MOU Box, contains the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Territory.[16]

Governance

Today, the territory is administered from Canberra by the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities, which is also responsible for the administration of the territories of Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island.[17]

The Attorney-General's Department had been responsible for the administration of Australian territories until the 2010 federal election. In that year the responsibility for Australian territories was transferred to the then Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport,[3] and from 18 September 2013 the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development has administered Australian territories.

Defence of Ashmore and Cartier Islands is the responsibility of Australia, with periodic visits by the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force and the Australia Border Force.

Nearby Hibernia Reef, 42 km (26 mi) northeast of Ashmore Reef, is not part of the Territory, but belongs to Western Australia.[18] It has no permanently dry land area, although large parts of the reef become exposed during low tide.

Proposed Northern Territory annexation

The Northern Territory government has claimed on multiple occasions (1989, 1996) that the Ashmore and Cartier Islands should be returned to their jurisdiction, instead of remaining a separate territory.[19] The Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs recommended in a 1991 report that the Northern Territory annex the islands.[20] In 1998, John Howard's Coalition debated the issue in the leadup to the 1998 Northern Territory statehood referendum, and stated in a campaign release that it would "pursue incorporation of the Ashmore & Cartier Islands into the Northern Territory before or at the time of Statehood".[21][22] However, these efforts did not lead to any changes.

Environment and protection
See also: Birds of Ashmore Reef and Flora of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Cartier Island and surrounding reef (NASA satellite image)

The Ashmore Reef Marine Park and Cartier Island Marine Park are both classed as strict nature reserves (IUCN Ia) and protect biodiverse areas of significant and international importance, as well as cultural heritage.[23]

Cartier Island is an unvegetated sand island,[7] with access prohibited because of the risk of unexploded ordnances. There are no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorage. Today, all the wells in the Territory are infected with cholera or contaminated and undrinkable.[24] The Australian Border Force vessel ABFC Thaiyak is stationed off the reef for up to 300 days per year.[25] The islands are also visited by seasonal caretakers and occasional scientific researchers.

Economy

The area around the Ashmore and Cartier Islands has been a traditional fishing ground of Indonesian fishermen for centuries, and continues. In the 1850s, American whalers operated in the region.[3] Outside of fishing, the islands were historically used as sources of guano, beche-de-mer, trochus and tortoiseshell.[11] Mining of phosphate deposits took place on Ashmore Island in the latter half of the 19th century.[3]

Petroleum extraction activities take place at the Jabiru and Challis oil fields, which are adjacent to the Territory, and which are administered by the Northern Territory's Department of Mines and Energy on behalf of the Commonwealth.[3]

Migration

As Ashmore Reef is the closest point of Australian territory to Indonesia, it was a popular target for people smugglers transporting asylum seekers en route to Australia.[26] Once they had landed on Ashmore Island, asylum seekers could claim to have entered Australian migration zone and request to be processed as refugees. The use of Ashmore Island for this purpose created great notoriety during late 2001, when refugee arrivals became a major political issue in Australia. The Australian Government argued that as Australia was not the country of first asylum for these "boat people", Australia did not have a responsibility to accept them.

A number of things were done to discourage the use of the Territory for this purpose, such as attempting to have the people smugglers arrested in Indonesia; the so-called Pacific Solution of processing them in third countries; the boarding and forced turnaround of the boats by Australian military forces; and finally excising the Territory and many other small islands from the Australian migration zone.[27]

Two boatloads of asylum seekers were each detained for several days in the lagoon at Ashmore Island after failed attempts by the Royal Australian Navy to turn them back to Indonesia in October 2001.

See also

References
  1. "Ashmore and Cartier Islands". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.
  2. "10: External territories". Legal Risk in International Transactions (ALRC Report 80). Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), Australian Government. 2006. ISBN 0642254877. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  3. "Ashmore and Cartier Islands". Territories of Australia. Department of the Infrastructure and Regional Development, Australian Government. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  4. "A STUDY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC ISSUES FACING TRADITIONAL INDONESIAN FISHERS WHO ACCESS THE MOU BOX" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2006.
  5. Australia, Geoscience (15 May 2014). "Ashmore and Cariter Islands". Australian Government Geoscience Australia. Australian Government. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  6. Carter, Mike; Clarke, Rohan; Pierce, Frank; Dooley, Sean; Swann, George; Grant, Murray (2010). "Lesser Coucal 'Centropus bengalensis' on Ashmore Reef: First Record for Australia". Australian Field Ornithology. 27 (3). ISSN 1448-0107. Within the reef are three small islands: West, Middle and east Islands (total land area 54 ha). The largest and most heavily vegetated is West Island...
  7. Taylor & Francis Group (2004). The Europa World Year Book 2004 (45th ed.). Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 611. ISBN 978-1-85743-254-1.
  8. "Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve and Cartier Island Marine Reserve". Marine Protected Areas. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Australian Government. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011.
  9. "Pulau Pasir (Ashmore Reef) belongs to Indonesia". Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  10. "Hibernia". 21 January 2016.
  11. "Our charge: history of new islands". The Sun. Sydney. 30 November 1933.
  12. "Our new islands". The Weekly Times. 9 December 1933.
  13. "Ashmore and Cartier Islands". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 29 March 2021. (Archived 2021 edition)
  14. Statistics, A.B. (1997). Year Book Australia No. 67, 1983. Australian Bureau of Statistics. p. 2. ISBN 978-99946-0-289-6.
  15. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
  16. "Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island Commonwealth Marine Reserves: Information for visitors" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  17. Assistant Director, Territories and Disaster Reconstruction Division (16 June 2012). "Territories of Australia". Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  18. "States of Australia". p. Administrative Divisions of Countries. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  19. "The Long Road to Statehood: Report of the inquiry into the federal implications of statehood for the Northern Territory House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs". May 2007. p. 17. hdl:10070/284014. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  20. The Long Road to Statehood 2007, p. 96.
  21. Garrick, Matt (1 January 2020). "Ghan land acquisition contingency had green light from Howard government, documents show - ABC News". ABC. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  22. "Coalition Foreign Affairs Statement: Our Indian Ocean Territories". ASPI. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2023. Website incorrectly filed the statement under 2007, but the statement itself says it was released 30 September 1998.
  23. "Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island Reserves". parksaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  24. "Bizarre Happenings at Reef". Navy News. Royal Australian Navy. 28 June 1999. Archived from the original on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  25. "Australian Customs Vessel Ashmore Guardian" (PDF). Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
  26. Anita Roberts "Don't let them drown" Inside Indonesia Apr–Jun 2001, vol. 64
  27. "Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) Act 2001". Federal Register of Legislation.
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