Dream Time | Discovery | Pastoralism | Pearling Days | Tourism | World Heritage Listing

Dream Time

Prior to European settlement the Shark Bay area was part of the tribal lands of the Nganda and Malgana people. The Bay’s waters provided their main source of food consisting of fish, shell fish and the larger marine animals such as turtles. The oldest remains of settlement in the Bay have been found at Eagle Bluff (2200BC).

Legend has it that two rows of rocks curved towards each other at Town Bluff is where Aborigines trapped their fish. At Monkey Mia, the caves on the bluff have signs of Aboriginal habitation.

[Back to the Top]

Discovery

On October 25 1616 Dirk Hartog, Captain of the Dutch trading ship “den Eendraght,” landed on what is now known as Cape Inscription on Dirk Hartog Island, thereby becoming the first white man to set foot on Australian soil. He erected a post to which he nailed a Pewter Plate recording his visit, then resumed his voyage to Java. Plate replica is now on display at the Shark Bay Shire Office.

Cape Inscription

Plaque on Lighthouse

In 1697 Willem de Vlamingh on the ship “Het Geelvicnk” set out on a voyage to search for survivors of a missing ship, landed on Dirk Hartog Island and discovered Hartog’s Plate. He replaced it with another Pewter Dish recording his own visit and that of Dirk Hartog, Vlamingh’s Plate is now on display in the Fremantle Maritime Museum.

William Dampier was the first Englishman to visit the West Coast of Australia. He spent seven days in Shark Bay aboard the vessel “Roebuck” in August 1699 sounding and examining the shore and his naming of our Bay remains today.

“...I therefore give it the name of Shark’s Bay”
William Dampier 1699

Plaques commemorating William Dampiers landing were placed at Cape Inscription on 15 March 2001

In 1722 the Frenchman Francois de St Allouarn landed at Cape Inscription, made the first formal claim of territory for France by burying 2 French coins and a parchment in a bottle and also left behind the remains of one of his crew.

In 1800, the French Government sent two ships the “Geographe” under Captain Nicholas Baudin and the “Naturaliste” under Captain Hamelin to explore the Southern Hemisphere. The “Naturaliste” spent 49 days charting the area. Louis de Freycinet and Francois Peron surveyed all the inlets between Dirk Hartog Island and the Peron Peninsular, while Pierre Faure was sent to chart the Eastern Bay. Most names of the islands and bays in Shark Bay were named after members of this expedition.

In 1818 the French explorer Louis de Freycinet (Who had been a member of the Baudin expedition in 1801 – 1803) visited Peron on the “Uranie”.

In 1858 the whole of Shark Bay was charted by Captain H M Denham on the “HMS Herald” and his name remains on the sea charts to this day. Whilst in the area, Denham carved his name and the date on the cliff face at Eagle at Eagle Bluff, this tablet is located in Pioneer Park. The town of Denham derives its name from the Captain.


[Back to the Top]

Pastoralism

In the late 1850s the explorer Frank Gregory mapped the Gascoyne and in the early 1860s the State Government released conditions and terms to encourage pastoralists to take up land.

Early pastoralists supplemented their income cutting sandalwood and fishing. Shell block cut from the substantial coquina shell deposits, was a popular building material, being cheap, easy to recover and offering excellent insulation qualities.

In the 1880s, the Flint Cliff Telegraph Station was established at Hamelin Pool. Later its name was changed to Flagpole Landing as a flag became the marker for the ships bringing provisions to the settlement.

Over the years, the industry experienced fluctuating fortunes as a result of variable seasons and wool prices. Today, almost all the Shire continues to be used for pastoral pursuit.


[Back to the Top]

Pearling Days

Whilst William Dampier noted Shark Bay’s pearls in 1699, it was not until the 1850s that commercial collection commenced. This occurred as a result of the Government investigating illegal guano shipments.

Guano mining started in 1850 at Egg Island by David Scott, Fremantle harbourmaster. Subsequently, when guano was thought to have been shipped illegally, the Government initiated an investigation. The investigating officer collected pearl shells whilst in the Bay and introduced them to traders in Perth who became interested.

Pearl shell was used for buttons (before plastics) and the pearls for jewellery. Baroque Pearls were sold to the Chinese for crushing into an aphrodisiac.

By the 1870s, many small settlements were scattered along the shores of Shark Bay including Cape Lesueur, Wilya Mia and later Monkey Mia.

A settlement locally known as ‘Freshwater Camp’ was established at Little Lagoon (now known as Nicholas Point). In November, 1895 the Inspector of Pearl Fisheries at Shark Bay requested a townsite be marked out and in May, 1898 the townsite was gazetted and named ‘Denham’.

Pearling attracted many nationalities. European pearlers recruited Malays and Islanders, while the Chinese often brought their own vessels and operated in direct competition with the Europeans.

After 70 years of trading, the onset of the Depression finally caused the pearling to close as it was known in these early years. (Today cultivated Pearls are grown in the Shark Bay region.)

Subsequently, fishing became the mainstay of the remaining Shark Bay settlements and a cannery and processing works were established at Monkey Mia in 1912, then later at Herald Bight (1930s).

Fishing activity peaked in the 1960s when 4 fish processing plants were supported. Following the regulation of the industry in the 1970s the industry has stabilised.

Today, snapper and groper form the basis of the catch of the wet liners while whiting and mullet fill the nets of the beach seine fishermen. Prawns and scallops are harvested in the Bay by boats operating from Carnarvon and crayfish are caught off Big Bank in the waters to the west.

[Back to the Top]

Tourism

In the early 1960s, following the sealing of the road between Geraldton and Carnarvon and the creation of a Caravan park at Denham, the arrival of the tourists caused Shark Bay to cease to be a closed, isolated community.

Shark bay’s most popular and spectacular tourist attraction is Monkey mia, where the dolphins come in to shore to meet and interact with people. These are not trained animals performing tricks but rather wild dolphins who, after years of love and understanding, come to be fed of their own accord.

In the early days, fishermen would often toss fish overboard to the congregating dolphins who followed them to shore. In 1964, a women from one of the makeshift fishing camps hand fed one of the dolphins from a boat. The dolphin took the fish gracefully and continued to come back for more over the following days. Other dolphins followed his lead and the pattern of hand feeding was established.

In 1985, when bitumen was extended ti Denham from the Overlander, tourist number increased dramatically.

Today it is estimated that 150,000 tourist visit the Bay each year to fish, holiday or just meet the dolphins. Local tours, by land, sea or air are rapidly increasing popularity as the uniqueness of the Bay in appreciated.

[Back to the Top]

World Heritage

On 14 December, 1991 Shark Bay was inscribed into the World Heritage Property List in recognition of the area’s outstanding natural features. It is only one of eleven places in the world to satisfy all four natural criteria.

Initially, the area can appear barren, almost semi desert country. However, when you look closer, you will discover that the land and seas are teeming with life, some species being unique to the area.

The area is the boundary between two major botanical regions – the wattle dominated vegetation found in the Pilbara and inland WA and the Eucalypt dominated bush of the South West of the State. There are many fragmented habitats, including plants which are rare or restricted in there occurrence and some not yet described or named. The waters of the Bay contain one of the most varied collections of sea grasses in the world.

[Back to the Top]

For further reading we suggest “Shark Bay Through Four Centuries 1616-2000” by Hugh Edwards which is available from the Shire Office and other outlets through out Denham and Monkey Mia.

For More information on Shipwrecks

Gudrun 1880 to 1901
Zuytdorp Wreck