Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Group of uninhabited Australian islands comprising Middle, East, and West Islands (the Ashmores), and Cartier Island, in the Indian Ocean, about 190 km/120 mi off the northwest coast of Australia; area 5 sq km/2 sq mi. They were transferred to the authority of Australia by Britain in 1931. Formerly administered as part of the Northern Territory, they became a separate territory in 1978. West Ashmore has an automated weather station. Ashmore reef was declared a national nature reserve in 1983.
