 In 1963 the island became an artificial peninsula when it was connected to the mainland by a causeway for a road and railway.In 1979 Dampier Peninsula was renamed Burrup Peninsula after Mt Burrup, the highest peak on the island, which had been named after Henry Burrup, a Union Bank clerk murdered in 1885 at Roebourne.The region is sometimes confused with the Dampier Peninsula, 800 km to the north-east.