Place Names Register Extract
Wessel Islands
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Print Extract | Search Again| Name | Wessel Islands |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Island Group |
| Place Id | 19574 |
| Place Type | Feature |
| Status | Recorded |
| Date Registered | |
| Location (Datum GDA94) | |
| Latitude: -11° 36' S (Decimal degrees -11.6045) | |
| Longitude: 136° 19' E (Decimal degrees 136.3288) | |
| View Map | View in NT Atlas | View in Google Earth | |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| East Arnhem | |
| Local Government Area | |
| East Arnhem Shire Council | |
| History/Origin | Matthew Flinders prescribed on 6 March 1803 the name Wessel Island and recorded in his journal - "Doubtless what is marked in the Dutch chart as one long Island, and in some charts called Wessels Eylandt, which name I retain with slight modification." As two Dutch expeditions Carstenszoon in 1623 and Tasman in 1644 are known to have sailed along the north western coast of Arnhem Land it is unknown who named the "island" shown on the chart that Flinders had. The island could have been named after the vessel "Wesel" which in 1636, under the command of Pieter Pietersen with the "Klein Amsterdam" sailed south from New Guinea to what is known today as Cobourg Peninsula and Melville Island. |
Register & Gazettal information
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| (None Found) |