Island in the Timor Sea, off the coast of Northern Territory, Australia.
It is 80 mi (130 km) long and 55 mi (88 km) wide, with an area of 2,240 sq mi (5,800 sq km). It was sighted by the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1644; the British built Fort Dundas there in 1824. Melville Island, known to Aborigines as Yermalner, is one of the few areas in Australia still occupied by its original Aboriginal peoples, the Tiwi, and in 1978 ownership of the island passed from the Australian government to the Tiwi Land Council.
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