Lacepede Islands

The Lacepede Islands, sometimes referred to simply as the Lacepedes, are a group of four islands nominally located at 16º 52' S 122º 09' E,Gazetteer of Australia | name = Lacepede Islands | id = 272522] in the Indian Ocean off the north-west coast of Western Australia, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Broome. They are about 30 kilometres (20 mi) off the coast of the Dampier Peninsula, from which they are separated by the Lacepede Channel.

The four islands are named West Island, Middle Island, East Island and Sandy Island. They are all small, low spits of coarse sand and coral rubble, lying atop a platform reef. They are Western Australia's most important breeding ground for the Green Turtle,cite web | title = Lacepede Islands | work = oceandots.com | url = http://www.oceandots.com/indian/kimberley/lacepede.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-11] and they also support of breeding colonies of Lesser Frigatebirds, Brown Boobies, Crested Terns, Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones.cite web | title = George Negus Tonight: Lacapede [sic] Islands (transcript) | url = http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s921715.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-11]

The islands were discovered by Nicolas Baudin in 1801, and named in honour of Bernard Germain de Lacépède, a French naturalist who described a number of Australian fish species.

In the 1800s, the Lacepede Islands were amongst numerous islands off the Western Australian coast that were mined for guano. Although much of the guano mined was by Western Australia industry, there was also extensive unauthorised mining by trading ships from other countries, especially the United States. A Melbourne company, Messrs. Poole, Picken and Co., had been authorised by the Western Australian government to load guano, and had been charged a royalty of 10 shillings per ton. [kimberly 1897 p.242] In 1876, a dispute arose when an American named Gilbert Roberts landed from the French barque "Forca de la Roquette" and disputed a demand that he play a levy for mining there. He planted the United States flag on one of the islands, claiming the island group for that country in accordance with a U.S. law that empowered U.S. citizens to take possession of uninhabited islands more than a league (three miles) offshore from any country, so long as they had not been formally claimed. This incident, known as the "American Incident" or "Lacepede Islands Incident", sparked a diplomatic and political row, which was eventually resolved by Roberts paying the levy and a fine, and the Western Australian government enacting legislation requiring all guano mining to be licensed, with severe penalties for transgressions.cite book | first = Mike | last = McCarthy | year = 1992 | chapter = Failure and success: The Broadhursts and the Abrolhos guano industry | pages = 11–23 | editor = Broeze, Frank (ed) | title = Private enterprise, government and society: Studies in Western Australian history XII | publisher = The University of Western Australia]

The Lacepede Islands are also known to have been used by blackbirders, as a place to maroon kidnapped Indigenous Australians before signing them up to work in various industries, such as the pearling industry. One confirmed case is that of early Cossack settler Edward Chapman, who was cautioned for kidnapping Indigenous Australians from Beagle Bay and marooning them in the Lacepedes.cite book | first = Kay | last = Forrest | year = 1996 | title = The challenge and the chance: The colonisataion and settlement of north west Australia 1861 1914 | location = Carlisle | publisher = Hesperian Press | isbn = 0-85905-217-6 | page = 52]

The Lacepede Islands are now managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation as the A-class Lacepede Islands Nature Reserve. One notable management activity is the apparently successful eradication of the black rat from the islands, allowing the regeneration of populations of ground-breeding birds.

East Island is the location of the East Island Lighthouse.

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