Adele Island (Western Australia)
Adele Island is an uninhabited small island located in the Indian Ocean approximately North of Ardyaloon off the Kimberley coast in Western Australia.
Description
The island is fish-hook shaped and has a length of and a width of and a total area of. It is low-lying and surrounded by extensive sandbanks lying over a limestone platform forming a large lagoon.History
Nicolas Baudin named the island in 1801 as part of his expedition around Australia. The name of the island was first charted on the Freycinet Map of 1811. The Adele Island Nature Reserve was gazetted on 1 December 2000, has a size of, is located within the Northern Kimberley bioregion, and was declared in recognition of its status as a bird breeding sanctuary. Since then the Department of Environment and Conservation has embarked on a campaign to eradicate the island of the Polynesian Rats that are a constant threat to the native seabirds.An acetylene-powered lighthouse was built on the island in 1951 it was later upgraded to solar power in 1985.
In 2025 a group of about 70 visiting Cruise ship passengers and 10 guides were briefly stranded on the island when quickly rising tides separated them from their Zodiac inflatable boats.