Place Names Register Extract
Bickerton Island
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Print Extract | Search Again| Name | Bickerton Island |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Island |
| Place Id | 10808 |
| Place Type | Feature |
| Status | Recorded |
| Date Registered | |
| Location (Datum GDA94) | |
| Latitude: -13° 45' S (Decimal degrees -13.7553) | |
| Longitude: 136° 12' E (Decimal degrees 136.2025) | |
| View Map | View in NT Atlas | View in Google Earth | |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| Anindilyakwa | |
| Local Government Area | |
| East Arnhem Shire Council | |
| History/Origin | Named by Flinders on 4 January 1803 after Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton when circumnavigating Groote Eylandt and Connexion Island and correctly supposing that the Eylandt remote from the coast was Tasman's "Groote Eylandt", shown on the old Dutch charts. Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton was an Admiral, son of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton. His father died in 1792. Entering the Navy in 1771 on the Marlborough, he joined the Medway, became a Lieutenant on the Prince George in 1777 and commanded the sloop Swallow in 1779. He went to the West Indies in the Ramilles in 1794 after his father's death and he succeeded to the baronetcy. He commanded the Terrible in 1798 and was Port Admiral of Portsmouth in 1799. In 1801 he was Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean under Lord Nelson. He was remembered by Matthew Flinders in early 1803 by the naming of Bickerton Island near Groote Eylandt. Vice Admiral in 1806, Member of Parliament for Poole from 1807-12, in 1812 Bickerton was Commander in Chief of Portsmouth. He became Lieutenant General of the Marines in 1818 and succeeded William IV as General of the Marines in 1830. Bickerton died in 1832. |
Register & Gazettal information
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| (None Found) |