“That’s what we hope to develop over time and see being built on Dirk Hartog, they can build a nest quite quickly and it can increase in size and density and complexity over time.”

Just how many rats the island will be able to support as populations hopefully grow is uncertain.

Dirk Hartog is 63,300 hectares in size and it will be an interesting time for scientists to see how the new populations of different species get along.

So far rufous hare-wallabies, banded hare-wallabies, Shark Bay bandicoots, dibblers, Shark Bay mice and greater stick-nest rats have all been brought back to the island.

Environment Minister Reece Whitby said the 1616 project was ambitious in its goal of restoring the island to a condition similar to when the Dutch visited the area.

Loading

“Now with six native fauna species back on the island ... the national park is making a major contribution to fauna conservation in WA,” he said.

Sims said the there was potential for some populations of the new species on Dirk Hartog to expand the current global population size by 5 to 10 times.

“That will take time, it will be determined somewhat by their interrelationship between each other too,” she said.

“There will be some overlap in habitat use and competition. It’s certainly an exciting opportunity to make really significant conservation gains for many of these species.”

“We have some monitoring looking at vegetation changes ... and there’s certainly suggestions that removal of the herbivores, the sheep and the goats, is resulting in positive changes and recovery of some of the vegetation”.

“Certainly as native herbivores re-establish, we would expect a shift and change in the impact, so we may actually get some additional grazing patterns on other species that we haven’t seen before and that will shift those habitat boundaries ... the hope is we’re establishing a more natural balance in the ecosystem.”

Dirk Hartog could soon become a source for taking animals and trying to set up colonies in other parts of the country.

Until recently Shark Bay mice, djoongari, were thought to be a unique species to the west until genetic and taxonomic work discovered it was the same as the Gould’s mouse which has become extinct on the east coast of Australia.

“That’s certainly got a lot of biologists in the east excited to reintroduce it,” Sims said.

“Having another healthy population established on Dirk Hartog Island provides an opportunity as another source population. It takes the pressure off those remnant island populations which are very valuable and often difficult to get to.”

Return to 1616 is funded through a $60 million conservation program which global oil and gas giant Chevron pays the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions as part of its agreements on its Gorgon project 600 kilometres north.

Follow WAtoday on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for handpicked selections of the day’s biggest local, national and international news.