Dampier

Dampier, the name of several places in Australasia: (1) Dampier Archipelago, a cluster of about twenty small rocky islands off the NW. coast of Australia, in 21° S. lat., and 117° E. long., divided by the Mermaid Strait in two groups; in the eastern is Rosemary, the largest island.—(2) Dampier Island, off the NE. coast of New Guinea, with a volcano about 5250 feet high.—(3) Dampier's Land, a peninsula of Western Australia, fertile and well watered, lying between King Sound and the Indian Ocean.—(4) Dampier Strait, between New Guinea and the archipelago of New Britain, forming, with Goschen Strait to the SE., the shortest route from Eastern Australia to China by some 300 miles.—(5) Dampier Strait, separating the island of Waygion from the NW. extremity of New Guinea, the safest and easiest passage between the Indian and Pacific oceans.