It is part of the Thousand Islands and the capital of Kelurahan (administrative village) Pulau Untung Jawa.

It had fresh water, and the coral was covered by a thick layer of humus, making it malaria free.

[1] The island is close to deep water, making it a good harbor for big ships.

It started a period wherein Onrust was the main naval repair shipyard in the Dutch East Indies.

The lack of docking facilities in the Dutch East Indies was often part of an ideological debate.

In 1871 plans were made for what would later become the Nederlands Indische Droogdok Maatschappij (NIDM) or Netherlands Indies Drydock Company.

The first attempts to raise the required capital failed, and in the end British investors stepped in.

They liked the general conditions on Amsterdam Island and found a location on its southern coast.

This was a massive 354 feet long iron dry dock that was supposed to be able to lift most existing merchant ships.

In August 1874 3,000 piculs of stones were brought from Europe to Batavia for 'the dry dock company'.

[6] In November 1874 there were riots with the local population on Amsterdam Island, caused by the behavior of one of the employees of the contractor.

As an alternative route to completing the repair shipyard, NIDM then focused on finishing the smaller Volharding Dock, which had originally been meant for Surabaya.

[13] On 8 November 1884 Volharding dock was sold to the Factorij der Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappij for 50,000 guilders.

Another legacy is a series of photographs made on occasion of the (failed) launch of Batavia Dock.