Quoin Bluff South

While it has no facilities, Quoin Bluff South is a historic site where you can see the remains of an army outpost, a stone jetty and other relics.

This was the site of an army garrison on Dirk Hartog Island in 1851, where the officer resided in a wooden structure and 12 soldiers camped in tents. Accumulated guano on many of the smaller islands in the bay, which were used as seabird roosts, was an extremely valuable fertiliser at that time, and the Colonial government at Swan River discovered that vessels had been helping themselves to the valuable cargo. The army outpost was established to collect a royalty of two pounds per ton. On their arrival they found 10 vessels anchored in the bay - all collecting guano. But within months, the supplies had run out and the islands scraped clean and the regiment was called back to Fremantle. The ruins of their stone storehouse and stone jetty foundations (the dark line stretching into the water) can still be seen at the locality today.

This information was provided by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions: dpaw.wa.gov.au