Last modified: 2024-07-20 by ian macdonald
Keywords: heard and mcdonald | oceania | australia |
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image by António Martins, 28 November 2005
Heard and McDonald Islands are far to the southwest of mainland Australia, in the south of the Indian Ocean (near Kerguelen Island, approximately 73 degrees east, 53 degrees south -- reference: The Times Atlas of the World)
There was a scientific base on Heard Island in the
1950s but it is not currently staffed. There are
occasional visits by the Australian Antarctic
Division (see their web site)
Ron Heard, 26 February 2002
They fly the Australian (blue) flag if anything.
Christopher Vance, 23 December 1995
As this is an Australian external territory, the Australian flag is used. The
territory comprises a group of mostly barren Antarctic volcanic islands, about
two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall area is
372 km2.
An American sailor, John Heard, on the ship Oriental, sighted
Heard Island on 25 November 1853, en route from Boston to Melbourne. He reported
the discovery one month later and had the island named after him.
William
McDonald aboard the Samarang discovered the nearby McDonald Islands six weeks
later, on 4 January 1854.
From 1855 to 1882 a number of American sealers
spent a year or more on the island, living in appalling conditions in dark
smelly huts. At its peak the community consisted of 200 people. By 1880, sealers
had wiped out most of the seal population and then left the island. In all, the
islands furnished more than 100,000 barrels of elephant seal oil during this
period.
The islands were formally claimed by the United Kingdom in 1910
and transferred to Australia on 26 December 1947. The transfer was confirmed in
letters exchanged on 19 December 1950. The archipelago became a World Heritage
Site in 1997.
The islands have no permanent population. There were at
least five private expeditions to Heard Island between 1965 and 2000. Several
amateur radio operators have visited Heard, often associated with scientific
expeditions.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heard_Island_and_McDonald_Islands