Dirk Hartog Island is about a nine-hour drive or a two-hour flight north of Perth (Boorloo), with the closest town being Denham. The island forms part of the Shark Bay (Gathaagudu) World Heritage area, recognised for its outstanding natural values.
Back when Hartog and his crew of spice traders stumbled upon the huge island, they didn’t consider it outstanding. After three days of exploring, the crew found no freshwater and no valuable spices, so resumed their journey north to modern-day Indonesia. But Hartog left a calling card. Taking a pewter plate from the ship’s galley, he engraved details of their visit. Nailing it to a post and wedging it into a rocky cleft on the north of the island, Hartog inscribed his place in history.
Dirk Hartog Island
The story of the plates does not end there. The next European to arrive was Willem de Vlamingh, 81 years later, in 1697. For safe keeping, de Vlamingh removed Hartog’s plate, transporting it back to the Netherlands. Installing a substitute plate, he reiterated Hartog’s words and added details of his own visit. In 1818, 121 years after de Vlamingh’s visit, French captain Louis de Freycinet in turn, removed the de Vlamingh plate for safekeeping. Ironically, it was lost, only to be found again in the 1940s.
The original Hartog plate still resides in the Netherlands, with a replica housed at the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery and Visitor Information Centre in Denham. The original de Vlamingh plate is proudly displayed in the WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle (Walyalup).
In 1860s the island was used by the guano and pearling industries, before becoming a pastoral station. But in 2009, most of the island became Dirk Hartog Island National Park and today, it’s jointly managed by the Traditional Owners, the Malgana people. The park paved the way for ‘Return to 1616’, the biggest ecological restoration project of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Stowk Snorkel, Dirk Hartog Island
By 2018, the removal of all feral goats, sheep and cats had been painstakingly completed by the Department of Conservation, Biodiversity and Attractions. Phase two of the project has seen the reintroduction of six mammal species and one bird species that had become extinct on the island. The introduction of another two mammal species will complete the project, once their habitat and prey species are fully established.
For modern-day explorers, there’s a variety of ways to experience the island’s adventurous offerings, combining remote four-wheel-driving, rich heritage and immersive nature-based experiences.
The island’s most recent pastoralists, Kieran and Tory Wardle, now operate their historic property as the Dirk Hartog Island Eco Lodge. Lodge guests enjoy gourmet home-cooked meals, take marine safaris with dugongs, and sip sundowners from 180-metre-high cliffs.
Day trips also operate from Denham with Island Life Adventures. Arriving by boat, visitors tour the historic shearing shed and join a four-wheel-drive expedition to the blowholes and Surf Point Marine Sanctuary. Lunch is served, followed by swimming, SUP-boarding or tasting island-made gin.
Dirk Hartog Island Eco Lodge
Experienced four-wheel-drivers may prefer to self-drive, and the adventure starts with the sandy track out to Steep Point, a remote fishing and camping spot. A single-vehicle barge crosses to the island, unlocking access to the island’s rustic tracks, rocky clifftops, and dune traverses, where posts guide the way through shifting sands.
Campsites with amenities are available at Homestead Bay near the Eco Lodge, while off-grid campsites may be booked around the national park. Reintroduced animals like the rufous hare-wallaby, the Shark Bay bandicoot and the native Shark Bay mouse often bounce through campsites after dark.
The island offers otherworldly landscapes; giant sand mounds topped with clumps of spinifex, rocky headlands where fishers cast for gamefish and sheltered beaches that invite snorkellers into the blue. Clifftop lookouts reveal a passing parade of turtles, rays, juvenile sharks and in cooler months, humpback whales.
But perhaps the most significant place of all is Cape Inscription, where humble replicas of both Hartog’s and de Vlamingh’s plates mark the spot where Dutch sailors once documented their visits to this inhospitable, foreign land. Gazing out now across this wild landscape and the turquoise ocean below, it’s easy to experience the same awe Hartog must have felt when he stood on this cliff, back in 1616.
Published September 2026.
