Officially known as the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the islands of Ashmore and Cartier lie 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of Western Australia state and some 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of the island of Roti, Indonesia. The Ashmore Islands, comprising Middle, East, and West islands, are coral islets within a reef. Cartier Island, also lying within a reef, is sandier in composition. The islands and their surrounding waters were visited by Indonesian fishermen beginning about 1700. The first European to reach Cartier Island, in 1800, was a British sea captain named Nash, who sailed aboard the Cartier. Ashmore Reef was discovered in February 1811 by Captain Samuel Ashmore of the ship Hibernia, for which another nearby reef was named. American whaling ships plied the area in the 1850s. Great Britain and the United States both claimed possession of the islands; Britain finally annexed Ashmore in 1878 and Cartier in 1909. In the late 19th century West Island was exploited for its deposits of phosphate, an activity that removed most of the island’s topsoil. Britain gave the territory to Australia in 1933; it was administratively linked to the Northern Territory of Australia from 1938 until 1978, when administration passed to the national government.
After the islands’ natural resources had been exploited for a century, scientists began raising concern that the islands’ bird and plant life was in danger of being overharvested. In the mid-20th century Australia and Indonesia negotiated an agreement formalizing the rights of traditional Indonesian fishers. Other agreements have addressed petroleum exploration and the protection of biodiversity. The islands are uninhabited except for seasonal caretakers. Australia administers the extraction of petroleum from undersea oil fields adjacent to the territory. Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve, with an area of 225 square miles (583 square kilometers), was established in 1983. Cartier Island Marine Reserve, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the southeast, was established in 2000; it has an area of about 65 square miles (170 square kilometers). Most of the Ashmore Reef reserve is closed to visitors, as is all of the Cartier Island reserve.