Bernier Island

{{Short description|Island in Shark Bay in Western Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox islands | name = Bernier Island | native_name = | sobriquet = | image_name = | image_size = | image_caption = | image_alt = | map_image = Shark Bay.svg | location = [[Shark Bay]] | coordinates = | archipelago = | total_islands = | major_islands = | area_km2 =  | area_footnotes = | rank = | length_km =  | length_footnotes = | width_km =  | width_footnotes = | coastline_km =  | coastline_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_footnotes = | highest_mount =  | Country_heading = | country = Australia | country_admin_divisions_title = State | country_admin_divisions = [[Western Australia]] | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Region | country_admin_divisions_1 = [[Gascoyne]] | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = | country_admin_divisions_2 = | country_capital = | country_largest_city = | country_largest_city_population = | country_leader_title = | country_leader_name = | demonym = | population = | population_as_of = | density_km2 = | density_footnotes = | ethnic_groups = | website = | additional_info = }} '''Bernier Island''' is one of three islands that comprise the Bernier and Dorre Island Nature Reserve in the [[Shark Bay]] [[World Heritage Site]] in [[Western Australia]].<ref name="habr00">{{cite report |last1=Hancock |first1=Sue |last2=Brown |first2=Paul |last3=Stephens |first3=Burke |year=2000 |title=Shark Bay Terrestrial Reserves Management Plan 2000-2009 |publisher=Department of Conservation and Land Management, for the National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority |location=Perth, Western Australia |url=https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/019858.pdf |isbn=0-7307-5510-X |access-date=2024-07-29 }}</ref> It was named in 1801 after Pierre François Bernier, the astronomer on the [[Baudin expedition to Australia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sharkbay.org/place/bernier-dorre-islands-nature-reserve/|website=www.sharkbay.org|title=Bernier & Dorre Islands Nature Reserve}}</ref>

The island and the neighbouring [[Dorre Island]] were locations for [[Bernier and Dorre Island lock hospital|a lock hospital]] in the early 1900s.<ref name="hun93">{{cite book |last=Hunter |first=Ernest M. |year=1993 |title=Aboriginal health and history: power and prejudice in remote Australia |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-44760-7 |oclc=26502181 }}</ref>{{rp|58-61}}<ref>{{cite Q |Q15749695 |last=Jebb |first=Mary Anne |year=1984 |title=The Lock hospitals experiment |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ielapa.850909632 |number=8, ''December 1984'' |pages=68-87 |journal=Studies in Western Australian History}}</ref>

== Geography == It is located at the north-western corner of the World Heritage area, almost due west of [[Carnarvon, Western Australia]]. The {{convert|2.6|ha|acre|0|adj=on}} Koks Island is offshore from the lighthouse at its northern end. It is separated from [[Dorre Island]] to its south by a {{convert|500|m|ft|0|adj=on}} gap with a depth of {{convert|4|m|ft}}.

== Fauna == The island is home to one of the few remaining colonies of the Banded Hare-wallaby (''[[Lagostrophus fasciatus]]'')<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Groves|pages=59}}</ref> and the endangered species of mouse ''[[Pseudomys fieldi]]'', known as djoongari or the Shark Bay mouse, of which there are an estimated 5,000 to 9,000 individuals.<ref name=Env>{{cite web|url=https://www.environment.gov.au/node/14808|title=The Action Plan for Australian Rodents|date=1 April 1995|access-date=24 December 2015|publisher=[[Department of the Environment (Australia)|Department of the Environment]]}}</ref>

== Use as a lock hospital (1908{{endash}}1919) == {{main|Bernier and Dorre Island lock hospital}} In 1908, the Western Australian government created [[lock hospital]]s on Bernier and Dorre Islands to forcibly incarcerate Aboriginal people suspected of having venereal disease.<ref name="hun99">{{cite book |last=Hunter |first=Ernest |title=Aboriginal health and history: power and prejudice in remote Australia |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-41629-9 |oclc=918206471}}</ref>{{rp|59–61}} Aboriginal men were mainly detained on Bernier; Aboriginal women and children mostly on Dorre.

The facilities at the lock hospitals were inadequate, inmates had no contact with their families back home, and they underwent experimental medical treatments.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |first1=Karen |last1=Michelmore |first2=Sonia |last2=Feng |date=2019-01-10 |title=Lock hospitals on Bernier and Dorre Islands acknowledged in ceremony as 'horrific piece of WA history' |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-10/lock-hospitals-acknowledged-in-wa/10640732 |access-date=2024-07-29 }}</ref> It is conservatively estimated that 200 people died on the two islands, with their remains left in unmarked areas.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=17 April 2019|title=Commemorative Sculpture Acknowledges Lock Hospitals' History|url=https://www.gdc.wa.gov.au/commemorative-sculpture-acknowledges-lock-hospitals-history/|access-date=12 July 2020|website=Gascoyne Development Commission}}</ref> During the 2019 centenary commemoration, Regional Development Minister [[Alannah MacTiernan]] described the Bernier and Dorre lock hospital era as "a really horrific piece of Western Australian history."<ref name=":0" />

== Memorial == In April 2019, the Lock Hospital Tragedy Memorial ''Don't look at the Islands'' was installed on the mainland at [[Carnarvon, Western Australia|Carnarvon]], near the place where Aboriginal detainees were taken by boat to Bernier and Dorre.<ref name=":1" />

==See also== {{Portal|Western Australia}} * [[List of islands in Shark Bay]]

==References== {{reflist}}

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[[Category:Nature reserves in Western Australia]] [[Category:Islands of Shark Bay]]