Sahul Shelf

The name "Sahull" or "Sahoel" appeared on 17th century Dutch maps applied to a submerged sandbank between Australia and Timor.

On his 1803 map, Matthew Flinders noted the "Great Sahul Shoal" where Indonesians came from Makassar to fish for trepang (sea cucumber).

The existence of an extensive Sahul Shelf was suggested in 1845 by George Windsor Earl who called it the "Great Australian Bank" and noted that macropods (kangaroos) were found on Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands.

[2] In the 1970s, biogeographers coined "Sundaland" and "Sahul" as contrastive names for the continental regions extending from the adjacent shelves.

When sea levels fell during the Pleistocene ice age, including the Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 years ago, the Sahul Shelf was exposed as dry land.

Map of Sahul and Sunda
Continental shelves of Western Australia , showing the Sahul Shelf in the northeast. More broadly defined, the Sahul Shelf extends southwest to encompass the Rowley Shelf.