36-572: Saumarez Reefs is one of the southernmost reef systems located in the Coral Sea Islands , and part of the Coral Sea Shelf; it contains three main reefs and numerous smaller reefs all of which form a large crescent-shaped formation open to the northwest, about 27 by 14 km, area less than 300 km. There are two sand cays : North East Cay and South West Cay. The reefs were first seen on 27 of February 1823 by Lieutenant John Lihou aboard
72-605: A 989,842-square-kilometre (382,180 sq mi) protected area was planned in the Coral Sea. The Supreme Court of Norfolk Island has jurisdiction over the islands; however, the laws of the Australian Capital Territory apply. The territory's FIPS 10-4 code is CR, whereas ISO 3166 includes it in Australia (AU). In June 2004, a symbolic political protest run by gay rights activists based in Australia, declared
108-684: A good departure from Sandy Cape, New Holland, and steered a course to keep in mid-way, between the Great Barrier and Wreck Reefs On the following day at noon, saw sandbanks and small rocks- a-head, stretching as far to the Eastward as we could see from the masthead, and about five miles to the Westward, I immediately wore and run down to the Western extremity, and passed it within two miles longitude, by good timekeepers, 154° 20’ East, and latitude 21° 58’ South, and as
144-618: A group of small and mostly uninhabited tropical islands and reefs in the Coral Sea , north-east of Queensland , Australia. The only inhabited island is Willis Island . The territory covers 780,000 km (301,160 sq mi), most of which is ocean, extending east and south from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef and includes Heralds Beacon Island, Osprey Reef , the Willis Group and fifteen other reef/island groups. Cato Island
180-525: A hazardous passage through the Strait, losing four anchors and a rudder, the ship departed the Great Barrier Reef via an opening near Murray Islands. On 23 February, Lihou Reefs were sighted and on the 27th of that month, other reefs were discovered and these Lihou named Sir James Saumarez Shoals (now Reef). There is some thought that Saumarez Reefs could in fact be Midway Reef which had been sighted prior to
216-532: A large crescent-shaped formation, measuring 39 km across, that is open to the northwest. There are two sand cays: North East Cay and South West Cay. North East Cay ( 21°38′S 153°46′E / 21.633°S 153.767°E / -21.633; 153.767 ), is the northernmost of the Saumarez Reefs. It is a small sand cay lying near the Northern extremity of Saumarez Reefs. This 2.4m high cay, which
252-458: A reef, 10.8 km NW of Southeast Elbow, is the westernmost above-water part of the Saumarez Reefs, and is 2.4m high. There is a channel, 4 km wide between the cay and the reef SSE. On 27 February 1823, Captain John Lihou, master of the 550-ton Zenobia of Calcutta, saw the reef system and named it Sir James Saumarez' Shoal (now Saumarez Reefs) after Saumarez. Lihou recorded the find as “it
288-519: A route through Torres Strait. This was the first occasion a ship was navigated through Torres Strait from west to east. It was also the first occasion a ship was navigated through the Coral Sea from Torres Strait, south-eastward to the southward of New Caledonia. The Zenobia entered Endeavour Strait in January 1823 and discovered a shallow port on the south coast of Prince of Wales Island, named Port Yarborough by Lihou and subsequently named Port Lihou. After
324-618: A wide range of size, from a few kilometres in diameter to perhaps the second largest atoll in the world by total area (including lagoon ): Lihou Reef , with a lagoon size of 100 by 30 kilometres (62 by 19 miles) and an area of 2,500 square kilometres (970 square miles), which compares to a combined land area of the 18 individual islets of only 0.91 square kilometres (0.35 square miles). The islands are all very low. The Willis Islets are important nesting areas for birds and turtles but contain negligible natural resources. They comprise less than three square kilometres (1.2 square miles) of land. There
360-533: Is enclosed by a coral reef has an opening on the South Western side. A lighthouse (see infobox by side), is shown from the Northern edge of the cay. A clear channel, about 2.1 km wide, lies between Northeast Cay and the next reef to the South. South East Elbow ( 21°55′S 153°35′E / 21.917°S 153.583°E / -21.917; 153.583 ) is located about 36 km SSW of Northeast Cay, forms
396-467: Is in latitude 21 degrees 40 minutes, and longitude 153 degrees 46 minutes by chronometer, which was found correct on making Sandy Cape a day or two afterwards. There is reason to suppose that many other reefs exist to the North-West of this position.” Lihou had just previously discovered Lihou Reef and Cays on 23 February 1823. Zenobia , was on passage from Manila to South America and Lihou had chosen
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#1733125256041432-606: Is no port or harbour, only offshore anchorage. Most of the atolls fall into two groups, while Mellish Reef to the east, and Middleton Reef and Elizabeth Reef to the south are grouped separately: The atolls of the Northwestern Group, except Osprey Reef and Shark Reef in the north, and Marion Reef in the south, are located on the Coral Sea Plateau (Queensland Plateau), a contiguous area of depths less than 1000 m. The Nature Reserves were created to protect wildlife in
468-676: Is the highest point in the Territory. The Coral Sea Islands were first charted in 1803. In the 1870s and 1880s the islands were mined for guano but the absence of a reliable supply of fresh water prevented long-term habitation. The Coral Sea Islands became an Australian external territory in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act and extended in 1997 to include Elizabeth Reef and Middleton Reef nearly 800 km further south. The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island , New South Wales , (about 150 km (93 mi)) than to
504-533: Is the second time within five months that I have been wrecked in these seas," SS Francis Preston Blair . American Liberty ship, 7196 tons. Built 1943 by the Marinship Corporation Yard at Sausalito, on the north west side of San Francisco Bay, which built a total of fifteen Liberty ships. Lbd 422.8 x 57 x 34.8 ft. Wrecked on the eastern edge of the Saumarez Reef in the Coral Sea, 15 July 1945. She
540-538: The Tinonee for Mackay, which is their destination The steamer Leichhardt had arrived at Keppel Bay on 21 May 1880 from the scene of the wreck of the schooner Noumea with the whole of the European crew of the vessel and ninety-three South Sea Islanders. Other islanders were drowned while endeavouring to swim from the wreck to the boats the day after the vessel struck. Several of the rescued islanders are very weak, but there
576-596: The Coral Sea Islands to be a sovereign micronation . On 17 November 2017 the same group declared the kingdom to be 'dissolved', following the results of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey . There are about 30 separate reefs and atolls , twelve being wholly submerged or drying only during low tide, and 18 others with a total of about 51 islets and cays (18 alone on the atoll Lihou Reef ), some of which are vegetated. The atolls exhibit
612-675: The South Eastern extremity of Saumarez Reefs. SS Francis Preston Blair , an American Liberty ship , is a conspicuous stranded wreck and lies about 9.4 km North East of South east Elbow. The Royal Australian Air Force F-111 aircraft used the wreck for target practice during the 1980s. Three small reefs lie between 900m to 7.6 km WNW of Southeast Elbow. These small reefs are separated from each other by unsurveyed channels with widths of 900m to 2.2 km. South West Cay ( 21°50′S 153°30′E / 21.833°S 153.500°E / -21.833; 153.500 ), enclosed by
648-466: The Western End of Wreck Reef is laid down in 155° 28’ East, I concluded it mull be a new discovery and called it Midway Reef; as it renders the navigation between the Great Barrier and Wreck Reefs very critical, I submit it to your consideration to give it such publicity as you may deem necessary I have, etc. R. CARNS This is approximately the same latitude as Saumarez South East Elbow with a difference in
684-488: The island of Santo, in the New Hebrides, bound for Mackay, with ninety-two South Sea Islanders on board as passengers. Everything went well till Thursday evening. I had finished my trick at the wheel about two hours before the accident; the course then was south-west half-west. At about half-past 7 in the evening the ship struck the reef, not heavily but grazing ; after that she struck heavier and then bounced right on to
720-452: The isles and reefs, and claims a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive fishing zone. There is no economic activity (except for a significant but as yet unquantified charter fishing and diving industry), and only a staff of three or four people to run the meteorological station on Willis Island (South Islet), established in 1921. In November 2011, the Australian government announced that
756-541: The longitude of approximately 70 km (which for the time was still reasonably close to the mark) and seen almost five years prior to sighting by the Zenobia . 13 May 1880 the “blackbirder” labour schooner Noumea , on her return trip from Santa Island to Mackay, with ninety nine Islanders, including eight women, struck on Saumarez reef, on May 13, and became a total wreck. Seven of the Islanders were drowned in swimming off from
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#1733125256041792-545: The morning of the 18 May of having picked up a boat containing Captain Belbin and six white sailors in great distress of the schooner Nouméa, which vessel had been wrecked on May 13 on Saumarez Reef, Captain South's report added that there were four white men (including the Government agent) and ninety-nine islanders still at the wreck and the reef, in need of immediate assistance, as they have no food to sustain them The captain left
828-404: The reef high up. The captain at once got the starboard boat on deck, got her ready, and waited for daybreak. She was then launched over the starboard quarter with a crew consisting of the boatswain, four Kanakas, two black women, and a boy. The boat got through a break in the reef and lay under the lee of the reef on the other side. Then twenty-seven of the islanders took the water and swam through
864-415: The reef to the boat ; but the boatswain could not take them all in, and I saw seven of them in the water when the boat left for the island or sandspit at the end of the reef. I am sure that of these at least five were drowned. In the meantime the port boat was launched over the starboard side. I was one of the crew. We took nine more islanders, including one woman, but could not succeed in landing her. I
900-557: The respective areas of the territory; together they form the Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site . Elizabeth and Middleton reefs, together with reefs around Lord Howe Island ( New South Wales ) 150 km to the south, are regarded as the southernmost coral reefs in the world. Their location, where tropical and temperate ocean currents meet, contributes to an unusually diverse assemblage of marine species. These mostly submerged atolls which dry only during low tide were added to
936-561: The sailing of the Zenobia and described in an extract of a letter from Captain Carns, or the ship Neptune , to the Secretary of the Marine Board, describing the reef discovered between New Holland and New Guinea. Thinking it a duty I owe for the benefit of Navigators, I beg leave to acquaint you of the discovery I made between New Holland and New Guinea. On the 20th day of June last (1818), I took
972-483: The southernmost island of the rest of the territory, Cato Island. The islands, cays and reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not part of the territory, belonging to Queensland instead. The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the boundary between Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The territory is a possession or external territory of Australia , administered from Canberra . Previously it
1008-516: The territory only in 1989. They are located on the Lord Howe Rise . Already on 23 December 1987, they were protected as the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve , which has an area of 1,880 km . Automatic, unmanned weather stations are located on the following reefs or atolls: Lighthouses are located on following reefs or islands: Willis Island, the only inhabited island, has
1044-701: The vessel Zenobia and named after Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez . The Saumarez Reefs are located on the Coral Sea Shelf, 330 km North East of Gladstone, Queensland and are thus one of the closer coral sea islands as they are only located 85 km to the east of the Great Barrier Reef Swain Reefs and 95 km to the southwest of the Frederick Reefs . The Saumarez Reefs consist of three main reefs and many smaller reefs that form
1080-573: The vessel the day after she struck, and that, and as up to that time the crew had been unable to save any provisions from the wreck, it is feared the people left behind Mr WH Paxton, the owner of the Nouméa, arranged with the ASN Company for the Steamer Leichhardt , to proceed to the wreck, and with instructions to bring the islanders from the wreck to Keppel Bay, where they are to be transshipped into
1116-405: The wreck to the boats, but the remainder, together with the crew, were rescued by the steamer Leichhardt , sent to their assistance by the owner of the vessel The schooner Noumea was a vessel of some 144 tons approximately 100foot and built at George's River New South Wales in 1873 by Geo and Registered (64437) and owned by Mr Paxton, of Mackay, and was about six years old Her captain (RJ Belbin)
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1152-700: Was administered by the Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Transport and Regional Services . It is the only external territory not created by transfer from the United Kingdom or by the mandate of the United Nations. Defence is the responsibility of Australia, and the territory is visited regularly by the Royal Australian Navy . Australia maintains automatic weather stations on many of
1188-794: Was formerly in command of the Lady Darling, and has bad an extensive experience in the South Sea Island labour trade the vessel had, we behave, been recently purchased by Mr. Paxton for £2600, and was on her first trading voyage between the South Sea Islands and Mackay She was insured in the Sydney office of the Australian Alliance Company Captain South, of the Keilawarra , from Brisbane, reported when he arrived at Sea Hill on
1224-410: Was no sickness amongst them. The islanders proceed to Mackay in the Tinonee . The Nouméa was bilged and dismasted, and a total wreck on the north-east point of Saumarez Reef. The following narrative of one of the shipwrecked crew is Arthur William Munson, one of the crew of the captain's boat, gives us the. following short account of the wreck :-“We sailed about thirteen or fourteen days ago from
1260-420: Was swimming in the water nearly half-an-hour trying to land the woman, and at last they got her into the other boat. Only thirty-three islanders got out of the wreck, and when we came away in the captain's boat the rest of them were left on board. They had nothing to eat but bread damaged with salt water, and I don't know how they can have survived. The ship could not hold together long if it came on to blow. This
1296-493: Was used on occasions as a target by the RAAF, which dropped practice and live bombs. Stranding occurred during a cyclone. An explosion hole in the starboard bow at the waterline has never been explained. VIDEO 1964 21°48′S 153°42′E / 21.800°S 153.700°E / -21.800; 153.700 Coral Sea Islands The Coral Sea Islands Territory is an external territory of Australia which comprises
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