Geraldton Western Australia

Air and sea charters operate from Geraldton, taking visitors on a number of tours to the Abrolhos Islands. Tours include, sighseeing, diving and snorkelling the reefs and other locations, fishing, eco tours and surfing. See the all tour operators that include the Abrolhos Islands from the Tours section.

Below is more information about Abrolhos Islands Tourism and History.

Abrolhos Islands Tourism

Batavia Shipwreck - Dive on the wreck of the famous Dutch Ship Batavia wrecked in 1629. The ensuing mutiny and murder of 125 men, women and children has become folklore in Australia. Lying in 4-6m of clear water, the outline of the hull, fully equipped with cannons and anchors, is a stark reminder of the gruesome tale.

Bird Watching - More than ninety species of seabirds have been identified on the Abrolhos Islands, among them Crested Terns, Lesser Noddies and White Breasted Sea Eagles.

Diving - The Abrolhos Islands provides pure diving pleasure. With a range of diving options to choose from in each Island group, the Abrolhos can cater for everyone from the expert diver to the snorkeller. Tropical parrot and butterfly fish and coral trout swim beside western rock lobsters, buff bream and bald chin gropers. Coral bombies and colourful staghorn coral provide an underwater maze for your dive.

Ecotours - The Abrolhos Islands is a nature lover's paradise. On dry land, sea lions bask on the shores while a plethora of bird life soar above. In the water, snorkel through the coral gardens, hand feed 30kg Samson fish and watch out for dolphins swimming in your bow waves.

Fishing - If fishing is your passion, the Abrolhos supports many a prized catch waiting to become your next fishing story! Coral Trout, Dhufish and Blue Bone Groper, schools of Pink and Norwest Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Yellowtail Kingfish and Tuna provide just as much pleasure to catch as they do to eat! Check with the Fisheries Department for areas of the Abrolhos open to fishing.

Pearls - In the crystal blue lagoons of the Abrolhos, the black-lipped oyster cultures one of nature's gems - the pearl. With unique colours, lustres and shapes, ask your jeweller for an Abrolhos Pearl to take home to treasure

History of the Abrolhos Islands

The Abrolhos islands were first sighted and reported by Frederick Houtman in 1619. He warned of the danger they posed to shipping, and recommended a route which would take navigators around them. Eight years later the Governor-General of the Indies was nearly wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, and he too warned of the dangers of the area, particularly as the maps were inaccurate. Two years later the Houtman Abrolhos reefs claimed their first known victim, the Batavia. When the Batavia struck Morning reef near Traitors island at the eastern end of the Wallabi archipelago it was carrying 316 people as well as bullion (jewels and 12 chests of silver coin worth 250 000 guilders) and building materials for Batavia (now modern day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies. Of the survivors Captain Francisco Pelsaert took the ship's boat and with 47 of the survivors sailed up the coast to Batavia while Jeronimus Cornelisz, who remained behind and was on the verge on mutiny, terrorised the survivors eventually murdering 125 of them. Skeletons of the mutineers victims have been found on Beacon Island.

The Abrolhos have the distinction of being the first white settlement in Australia.

The settlement on the Abrolhos Islands included two forts which can still be seen today. The site of the massacre and, when Pelsaert returned, was the scene of some of the most horrendous punishments ever handed out. Some of the mutineers had their hands cut off. Pelsaert constructed a simple gibbet and the executed Cornelisz and his followers. He marooned two of the mutineers, Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, on the mainland where they became Australia's first white inhabitants. No one knows what became of them.

The name Abrolhos is derived from Portuguese 'abri vossos olhos!' which means 'open your eyes - keep good watch!' This suggests the Portuguese may have visited the area earlier and named the islands however, to the best of our knowledge, it was the Dutch navigator F. de Houtman who named the islands when he made contact with them in 1619.