Have you been to Point Roberts?

Have you been to Point Roberts, WA? No, not Washington, the one in Western Australia. Our exclave shares a name with at least three other geographic points around the globe named for a Robert or Roberts.

Point Roberts in Australia is not a peninsula, it’s a mountain 1,680 feet in elevation, with a prominence of 75 feet over the surrounding desert. This Point Roberts is located fifteen miles south of the Aboriginal Australian community of Warburton, population 576, on the Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal Reserve. Point Roberts in Australia may not be an exclave, but we share a similarity in that it is difficult to get there; visitors need a permit from the Ngaanyatjarra council to use any of the local highways.

It’s also difficult to get to the next location: Robert Point in the South Shetland Islands. It’s a rocky point on the second most-southerly peninsula on Robert Island, named for Captain Richard Fildes’ sealing ship, Robert. We live at 49 degrees north, but Robert Point is at 62 degrees south, about 100 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula. This time of year, its beach is crowded with Antarctic fur seals, Southern elephant seals, giant petrels and hundreds of chinstrap penguins.

A bit easier to get to is Point Robert on the island of Sark. Located in the English Channel off the coast of France; it’s actually a royal fief, attached to the Bailiwick of Guernsey, belonging to the British Crown. At two square miles, Sark, population 500, is less than half the size of our exclave. Point Robert is a peninsula on the northeast side of the island and was featured on a 1976 postage stamp. It is home to Sark Lighthouse, built in 1913 and not automated until 1994. It may be easier to access (they have ferries), but it’s not as easy to get around on the island; it’s one of the few remaining places on Earth where cars are banned. Visitors get around on bicycles or tractor- and horse-drawn vehicles.

To learn more about our own Point Roberts, stop in at the Point Roberts History Center on Gulf Road.