On June 4, 1629, a flagship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Batavia, was wrecked upon Morning Reef on its maiden voyage near Beacon Island, a rocky outcrop in the northern part of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, around 37 miles (60 km) off the coast of Western Australian.
What followed was a story of mass murder, torture, and rape. When the story was published, the evidence was so nightmarishly gruesome it made “Lord of the Flies” look tame. Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding, focusing on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves.
In all, some 115 people died following the shipwreck, many of whom were murdered violently. Beacon Island now bears the nickname “Batavia’s Graveyard” or “Murder Island.”
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