CHANNEL ISLAND (12o 33’S 130o 52’E) – Chart AUS 26

Channel Island is a kidney- shaped, densely vegetated island about 1nm long and 5 cables wide lying in the Middle Arm of Darwin Harbour. Channel Island Power Station occupies the southern half of the island and the northern half is a conservation reserve. HISTORY Channel Island was the site of Wk the first quarantine facility in the Northern Territory. Construction of the hospital and facilities were completed in 1914 and the hospital was converted to a leprosarium in about 1931. The settlement was finally abandoned in 1955. Although many buildings were dismantled and removed following the closure, the jetty, foundations of the original quarantine hospital, burial sites and many historical artifacts remain on the island. Both the leprosarium area and the reefs under the bridge to the east of the island are Heritage Listed sites. The wreck of the “SS Ellengowan”, located NE of Channel Island at 12° 32' 28"S, 130° 52' 08"E is the oldest known shipwreck in Darwin Harbour and one of the earliest ships associated with European settlement in the area. It is a unique example of nineteenth century maritime history in the NT and is the only known Norwegian built iron steamer in Australian waters. GETTING THERE AND AWAY Channel Island is about 6 miles upstream from Cullen Bay Marina and about the same distance from the Duck Pond, Tipperary Marina and Bayview Marina. When approaching the island from the north, there is a conspicuous beach on the north-western tip of the island. The anchorage is directly off the beach out of the current, and as far in to the beach as draft and tides permit. A trip to Channel Island is best scheduled for early in the dry season, when the island provides protection from the prevailing south- easterlies which tend to spring up early in the morning and sometimes persist into the early afternoon. Late in the dry season, if the north- westerly seabreezes combined with the tidal current tend to make this anchorage somewhat uncomfortable, try the alternative anchorage SE of the island. On low spring tides, the extensive reef and mudbanks off the north-western end of the island and the reef under the bridge on the eastern side of the island both dry, and it is all but impossible to get ashore within a couple of hours either side of low tide. However, it may be possible to walk to and from your boat at low tide if you have anchored too close in, or the boat has swung around in the changing current or seabreeze.