The Territory of Ashmore and
Cartier Islands are two groups of small low-lying uninhabited tropical
islands in the Indian Ocean situated on the edge of the continental shelf
north-west of Australia and south of the Indonesian island of Roti at
12°14′S 123°5′E.
The territory includes Ashmore Reef (West, Middle, and East Islets) and
Cartier Island (70 km east) with, a total area of 199.45 kmē within the
reefs and including the lagoons, and 114,400 mē of dry land. While they
have a total of 74.1 km of shoreline, measured along the outer edge of the
reef, there are no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorage. Nearby
Hibernia Reef, 42 km Northeast of Ashmore Reef, is not part of the
territory. It has no permanently dry land area, although large parts of
the reef become exposed during low tide.
Ashmore Reef 155.40 kmē area within reef (including lagoon)
West Islet, 51,200 mē land area;
Middle Islet, 21,200 mē land area;
East Islet, 25,000 mē land area;
Cartier Reef (44.03 kmē area within reef (including lagoon)
Cartier Island, 17,000 mē land area;
There is an automatic weather station on West Islet.
The territory is administered from Canberra by the Australian Department
of the Environment and Heritage. The data code is AT. Defence is the
responsibility of Australia, with periodic visits by the Royal Australian
Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. The islands are visited by seasonal
caretakers.
The Ashmore Reef Marine National Nature Reserve was established in August
1983. It is of significant biodiversity value as it is in the flow of the
Indonesian throughflow current from the Pacific Ocean through the
Indonesian Archipelago to the Indian Ocean. It is also in a surface
current west from the Arafura Sea and Timor Sea. There are 14 distinct
species of sea snake in the area, more than in any other area. There is
also an unusually high level of species diversity of coral, mollusks, and
fish. A memorandum of understanding between the Australian and Indonesian
governments allows Indonesian fishermen access to their traditional
fishing grounds within the region, subject to limits.
Cartier Island Marine Reserve includes the entire sand cay of Cartier
Island, the reef surrounding it, the ocean for a 7.2 km radius around the
island, and 1000 m below the seafloor. It was proclaimed in 2000.
There is no economic activity in the Territory.
As Ashmore Reef is the closest point of Australian territory to Indonesia,
it was a popular target for people smugglers transporting asylum seekers
to Australia. Once they had landed on Ashmore, asylum seekers could claim
to have entered Australian territory and request to be processed as
refugees. The use of Ashmore for this purpose created great notoriety
during late 2001, when the issue of refugee arrivals became a major
political issue in Australia. As Australia was not the country of first
asylum for these "boat people", the Australian Government did not consider
it had a responsibility to accept them and this was popularly supported by
the public.
A number of things were done to discourage the practice such as attempting
to have the people smugglers arrested in Indonesia; the so-called Pacific
Solution of processing them in third countries; the boarding and forced
turnaround of the boats by Australian military forces, and finally
excising Ashmore and many other small islands from the Australian
migration zone. Two boatloads of asylum seekers were each detained for
several days in the lagoon at Ashmore after failed attempts by the Royal
Australian Navy to turn them back to Indonesia in October 2001.
