Wellesley Islands

The Wellesley Islands, also known as the North Wellesley Islands, is a group of islands off the coast of Far North Queensland, Australia, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is a locality within the Shire of Mornington local government area.[2][3] The traditional owners of the islands are the Lardil people. In the 2016 census, the Wellesley Islands had a population of 1,136 people, all living on the largest island, Mornington Island.[1]

For the nearby island groups, see South Wellesley Islands and West Wellesley Islands; for the locality in the Maranoa Region, see Wellesley, Queensland; for the island in New York, see Wellesley Island.

Wellesley Islands
Queensland
Location map
Wellesley Islands is located in Queensland
Wellesley Islands
Wellesley Islands
Coordinates16.5329°S 139.3881°E / -16.5329; 139.3881 (Wellesley Islands (centre of locality))
Population1,136 (2016 census)[1]
 • Density1.1279/km2 (2.9212/sq mi)
Postcode(s)4892
Area1,007.2 km2 (388.9 sq mi)
Time zoneAEST (UTC+10:00)
LGA(s)Shire of Mornington
State electorate(s)Traeger
Federal division(s)Kennedy
Suburbs around Wellesley Islands:
Gulf of Carpentaria Gulf of Carpentaria Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria Wellesley Islands Gulf of Carpentaria
West Wellesley Islands South Wellesley Islands Gulf of Carpentaria

Geography

The Wellesley Islands, also known as the North Wellesley Islands,[4] is located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the eastern (Queensland) side of the gulf.[5] The largest island in the group is Mornington Island, with most people living in the town of Gununa. Two small islands in the group, north of Mornington Island, are designated as the Manowar and Rocky Islands Important Bird Area, because of their importance for breeding seabirds, in particular the brown booby and lesser frigatebird.[6] Other islands in the group include (from north to south):[7]

  • Moondalbee Island
  • Lingnoonganee Island
  • Pisonia Island
  • Lingeleah Island
  • Beahgoo Island
  • Jinke Island
  • Sydney Island
  • Tulburrerr Island
  • Denham Island
  • Andrew Island

Immediately to the south is a group known as the West Wellesley Islands or Forsyth Islands, and to the south-east of them are the South Wellesley Islands, while the Bountiful Islands lie to the east of Mornington Island. Politically, all 26 islands in these groups are within the local government area of the Shire of Mornington.[7]

Ecologically, they constitute subregion GUP10 of the IBRA-defined Gulf Plains bioregion of Australia.[8][9]

History

According to Indigenous lore, possibly mixed with fact, the islands were once part of mainland Australia:[10]

In the beginning, as far back as we remember, our home islands were not islands at all as they are today. They were part of a peninsula that jutted out from the mainland and we roamed freely throughout the land without having to get in a boat like we do today. Then Garnguur, the seagull woman, took her raft and dragged it back and forth across the neck of the peninsula letting the sea pour in and making our homes into islands.

The Lardil people, who prefer to be known as Kunhanaamendaa (meaning people of Kunhanhaa, their name for Mornington Island), are an Aboriginal Australian people and the traditional owners of Mornington Island.[11] The Lardil language (also known as Gununa, Ladil), is spoken on Mornington Island and on the northern Wellesley Islands.[3]

The islands were charted by Matthew Flinders on 6 December 1802, and named by him some years later. He probably did not name them until sometime between 1803 and 1810, when he was in French captivity on Mauritius Island; he devoted that time to working on his charts and journals. Flinders probably named the island group in honour of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Governor of Madras and Governor-General of Bengal from 1797 to 1805.[5] Wellesley, along with Lord William Bentinck, Governor of Madras,[12][13] tried to secure Flinders' release.[5][14] He definitely named the largest island in the group, Mornington Island, after Wellesley, who was also the second Earl of Mornington.[15]

The main town on Mornington Island, Gununa (a Lardil word) was founded in 1914[4] as Mornington Island Community, and renamed by the Queensland Place Names Board on 16 January 1982.[16]

Mornington Island State School opened on 28 January 1975.[17]

In the 2016 census, Wellesley Islands had a population of 1,136 people.[1]

Education

Mornington Island State School is a government-run primary and secondary school at Lardil Street for boys and girls from early childhood through Year 10. (16.6663°S 139.1825°E / -16.6663; 139.1825 (Mornington Island State School)).[18][19] In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 263 students, with 25 teachers and 14 full- and part-time non-teaching staff (the equivalent of 11 full-time m positions).[20] It includes a special education program.[18]

There are no schools on the island or any nearby areas that offer education to Year 12 on the island.[21] The only options for those years are enrolling in online distance education courses or going away to boarding school.

See also

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wellesley Islands.
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Wellesley Islands (SSC)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  2. "Wellesley Islands – locality in Shire of Mornington (entry 42536)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  3. This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Indigenous Languages of Queensland". State Library of Queensland. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  4. "Useful Information". Mornington Shire Council. 30 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. "Wellesley Islands – island group in the Shire of Mornington (entry 36965)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  6. "Manowar and Rocky Islands". Data Zone. BirdLife International. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. "Mornington Shire Planning Scheme" (Map + text). Mornington Shire Council. April 2014. pp. 2–3, 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) regions and codes". Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Commonwealth of Australia. 2012. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  9. "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA), Version 7 (Subregions) - States and Territories". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (Australia). 18 April 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  10. Reid, Nick. "Ancient Aboriginal stories preserve history of a rise in sea level". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  11. Bond, Hilary (March 2004). 'We're the mob you should be listening to': Aboriginal Elders talk about community-school relationships on Mornington Island (PDF) (PhD thesis). James Cook University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  12. "Sweers Island". State Library Of Queensland. 29 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  13. Cox, J. (2022). Dillon: The drove to Port Darwin: Northern Territory Australia 1872. BookPOD. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-922270-74-0. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  14. "Three Letters from Matthew Flinders - No 13 March 1974". State Library of Victoria. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  15. "Mornington Island – island in the Shire of Mornington (entry 22847)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  16. "Gununa – town in Shire of Mornington (entry 15097)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  17. Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN 978-1-921171-26-0
  18. "State and non-state school details". Queensland Government. 9 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  19. "Mornington Island State School". Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  20. "ACARA School Profile 2018". Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  21. "Queensland Globe". State of Queensland. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
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