How to visit the Batavia shipwreck site in the Abrolhos Islands

No tours visit the notorious Batavia shipwreck site. But it is possible to take a scenic flight to the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands from Geraldton, Western Australia. These Abrolhos flights land on East Wallabi Island.

Flying over the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands

To book a full day tour to the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands from Geraldton, click here.

For a review of the experience, read on.

As Western Australia’s Houtman-Abrolhos Islands come into view, they look exquisitely beautiful from above. A series of small cays, surrounded by reefs, lead to a patchwork of colours on the sea.

For plane passengers on a scenic flight, they look heavenly. For sailors, however, they have a long history of being deadly. The curving sand bars and atolls are surrounded by shipwrecks, most of which were waylaid on the way to or from what is now Indonesia.

Dutch exploration of Western Australia

The Dutch East India Company, which made a fortune shipping spices from the ‘Spice Islands’ to Europe, found that hugging the coast of Africa, the Middle East and India was a desperately slow way to reach South-East Asia. So their ships would head south of the Cape of Good Hope, hit the faster winds of the Roaring Forties, and then turn north later on.

Alas, this was a risky endeavour in the days before accurate methods of calculating longitude were put into practice. Miscalculations by skippers meant that the ships could be a lot further east than they thought they were – and that could mean crashing into the semi-mythical Southland.

The mapping of what we now call Australia was a very gradual and somewhat slipshod process. Little chunks were revealed by ships that discovered sections by accident, and managed not to crash into anything. The land and reef at the western periphery were especially lethal. The low-lying Houtman-Abrolhos, being 60km offshore from what is now Geraldton, were in a particularly dangerous spot.

From the air these days, however, the biggest sign of human presence comes from the little huts packed tightly onto some of the smaller islands. These belong to the rock lobster fishermen who come out to the islands seasonally to catch their quotas of the lucrative crustaceans.

The rest of the view, though, is all lagoon and fantastical coral formations just below the water’s surface.

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The Wallabi Group in the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands

There are three main groups in the Houtman-Abrolhos, separated by ocean channels. The Pelsaert Group at the southern end is arguably the most visually spectacular, the Easter Group in the middle more dottedly sporadic, and the Wallabi Group in the north most historic – for reasons that become clear when the plane lands there.

The airstrip – a fine piece of quintessentially Australian red dirt – is on East Wallabi Island, which can proudly boast the highest point in the Houtman-Abrolhos archipelago. Don’t bring the mountaineering equipment, though – Flag Hill is only 15m above the sea level.

Once the propellers have stopped, it’s time to stroll down alongside the runway to a track in the scrub. It leads to a marvellously deserted, moody beach, where the waves lap in on the white if mildly pebbly sand. The walk continues along the wet sand to a small wooden hut, which is to be the base for an afternoon of delightfully low grade activity.

Tammar wallabies on the Abrolhos Islands

It starts with a stroll through the low-lying bush. Trees don’t have much chance of growing here, so it’s mainly saltbush scrub. There’s the occasional osprey nest, and if you look closely, you’ll find a few tammar wallabies scuttling around. They’re smaller than most wallaby species – probably a result of being isolated from the Australian mainland on islands without much in the way of food or water. Elsewhere are jagged rocks that seem a bit too small to be classed as cliffs, but would be a painful, daunting climb up from the sea nonetheless.

There’s a tremendous end of the world beauty to the place. The sense of having it to yourself makes it special; the knowledge that there’s nothing but thousands of miles of ocean to the west, more so.

After the walk comes the swim. The reef is only a short way offshore, and with snorkels donned, it’s possible to see huge shoals of fish darting in all directions. For this spectacle, we have the Leeuwin Current to thank. It comes down from the north, making the waters unusually warm for the latitude, and allowing the most southerly reef system in the Indian Ocean to flourish.

The Batavia shipwreck on Morning Reef

East Wallabi Island hasn’t always been an idyllic place to spend a day, however. And the first humans to set foot there were part of one of the most remarkable tales in Australian history.

In 1629, the new pride and joy of the Dutch East India Company’s fleet – the Batavia – was heavily laden with treasure, and on the way to the city (now called Jakarta) from which it got its name.

The ship, however, had gone significantly off-course. This was part of a plot by the skipper Araien Jacobsz and undermerchant Jeronimus Cornelisz. They wanted to isolate the ship from the rest of the fleet it was sailing with, then take over the Batavia. But surf crashing over the dangerous Morning Reef was mistaken for moonlight reflecting on the water, and the Batavia crashed into the coral before the mutiny could take place.

The last leg of the Fly Gero day trip focuses very much on the Batavia shipwreck story. The flight back to the Western Australian town of Geraldton heads over the Morning Reef. There’s a clear patch in the reef where the Batavia struck.

It’s also possible to see the tiny islands where the rest of the story played out.

Pelsaert’s mission from Batavia’s Graveyard

Some on board the Batavia drowned trying to escape the wreck, but most made it to Beacon Island, a small, near-triangular cay. It was abundantly clear that the lack of fresh water and food would make survival virtually impossible.

Commander Francisco Pelsaert took Jacobsz and other crew to the other islands (including East Wallabi) in a long boat to look for water. They found nothing, so headed to the mainland. They then decided to make the incredibly difficult voyage to Indonesia in order to get help.

Slaughter on Beacon Island

Unfortunately, they didn’t tell the rest what they were doing. This left Cornelisz in nominal charge on Beacon Island. His solution to preserving the supplies left on board the wreck was rather gruesome.

He started by sending groups to other Houtman-Abrolhos Islands where his scouting parties had deceitfully promised there would be water. Crucially, this got rid of the soldiers on board the ship. They might challenge the reign of terror he was about to inflict.

His fellow would-be mutineers started killing off the rest of the survivors. At first, this was vaguely surreptitiously. But they soon openly embarked on mass slaughter.

Women were taken as sex slaves. Survivors were forced to kill or be killed. Children had their throats cut. And the mutineers paraded around in the finest clothing rescued from the ship.

Pelsaert’s return to the Batavia Shipwreck

Astonishingly, Pelsaert and co made it to Batavia, and came back in the middle of a pitched battle. The soldiers banished to East and West Wallabi Islands managed to find fresh water. There was also an abundance of tammar wallabies to eat. The soldier held out under attack from the mutineers. And, crucially, they managed to get to Pelsaert’s rescue ship to explain their side of the story first.

Cornelisz and many of the key mutineers were executed on Long Island. Two others – Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de Bye – were left on the Australian mainland. They became the first European inhabitants of Australia, and no-one knows what happened to them.

Batavia’s Graveyard and other books about the Batavia disaster

The shortened version of the Batavia story doesn’t do it justice. It’s well worth reading one of the many books on it before heading out to the Houtman-Abrolhos. Mike Dash’s Batavia’s Graveyard is the best for factual historic detail. Meanwhile, Peter Fitzsimons’ Batavia provides a slightly too self-indulgent and occasionally irritating version. Some of the events and dialogue are imagined within the parameters of what is known from original sources.

But taking the flight over the islands brings the setting to life. You can start to understand the hopeless situation of nearly 200 people cramped on Beacon Island. It’s abundantly clear how impossible salvaging the ship would have been. And the distances between the islands show how terrifying it must have been to make a break for it. Swimming towards the soldiers on East or West Wallabi Island while clutching driftwood was fearsome.

There are very few physical reminders of the Batavia saga. Bones have been found on Beacon Island, however. Numerous artefacts from the Batavia wreck can also be seen in the Western Australian Museum outlets in Geraldton and Fremantle.

The oldest building in Australia

But there is one remnant. While flying over West Wallabi Island, there’s a small square shape on the sand amongst the scrub. Zoom in with the binoculars, and it becomes clearer – it’s a rudimentary fort.

This isn’t a recent addition. It has been there since 1629, when the stranded soldiers built it as a measure of protection. They hoped it would keep Cornelisz and the mutineers at bay should they decide to attack. It’s hardly mighty, but it is significant. 141 years before Captain Cook arrived, this was the first European-constructed building in Australia. Quite how much the seals flapping up on the rocks nearby appreciate this piece of heritage is unknown.

Houtman-Abrolhos Islands day trips

Day trips to the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands are available through Fly Gero. These include the scenic flight from Geraldton, snorkelling equipment, lunch and time spent on East Wallabi Island. Tours cost from $440. Geraldton is 415km north of Perth. The flight from Perth to Geraldton takes one hour, and Geraldton car rentals can be picked up at the airport.

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