CROKER ISLAND

island in Northern Territory, Australia, lying 2 miles (3 km) across Bowen Strait in the Arafura Sea from Coburg Peninsula. Low and swampy, the island rises only to 50 feet (15 m). It is 30 miles (50 km) long by 4 miles (6 km) wide and has an area of 126 square miles (326 square km). Visited by Captain Phillip Parker King of the Royal Navy about 1818, the island was probably named for John Wilson Croker, then chief secretary of the British Admiralty. It was the proposed site of a government settlement, which instead was founded on the mainland. Now part of Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve, it is the site of a Methodist mission and produces tropical fruits and vegetables and milled cypress pine. Pop. (1976) 244.