Shark Bay is a locality in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. It is located at approximately 25°30'S 113°30'E, over 800 km north of Perth, on the westernmost point of Australia. It was named by William Dampier,one of the first Europeans to visit Australia in July 1699. Shark Bay lays claim to being the first place of European contact in all Australia with Dirk Hartogs landing in 1616 and thus the first place of 'discovery ' in a formal and documented manner by the outside world. Shark Bay may refer to:

• the bay itself, along with its peninsulas and numerous islands
• the Shire of Shark Bay
• the Shark Bay World Heritage Site
• the Shark Bay Marine Park.

It may help the reader to understand the reality of such isolated and vast localities of Australia by a comparing it to a country of an equivalent area in Europe such as Wales:Shark Bay is about the same size but has a population of less than 1,000 people and a coastline of over 1,500 kilometres. The half dozen small communities making up this population occupy less than 1% of the total area.

Shire of Shark Bay

---

The Shire of Shark Bay is a Local Government Area of Western Australia. It has an area of 25,423km² and a population of about 950. It is made up of two pensinsulas, located at the western most point of Australia. There is the one town in the Shire of Shark Bay, Denham, which is the administrative centre for the Shire. There are also a number of small communities; they are Useless Loop (a closed mining site), Monkey Mia (a popular resort where Dolphins come in), Nanga,and Hamelin Pool, .The Overlander and The Billabong are roadhouses. The retiree and social security dependent populace, representing approximately 30% of the population, contributes considerably to the local economy. Collectively the private sector would be the largest overall employer per the salt works at Useless Loop along with the fishing industry and the various retail outlets meeting the needs of the tourist industry. There are some 30 personnel employed by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) and twenty by the Shire. There is a primary school and a Distance Education structured secondary school. Numbers of school aged children fluctuate around the 100 mark. Due to the considerable distances involved rather than the crime factor - which is minimal - the Police Station is manned by 3 officers. As with elsewhere in rural Australia the emergency services are operated entirely by volunteers (Fire Brigade, Ambulance, State Emergency Service (SES) and Marine Rescue). There is a Crisis centre, two Churches, a unit of the Red Cross, Returned Services League (R.S.L.), plus the normal amenities / facilities / social organisations to be found in any small Australian rural town; for example, two grocery shops, hardware, laundromat, hairdressing salon, two hotels, three caravan parks, various types of holiday accommodation, butcher, tourist and souvenir shops etc. Social organisation include a bowls club, golf club, speedway, arts society, film club, pistol club, bridge club, crafts group, youth association and facilities for various sports, for example netball, cricket, football. There is no resident Doctor but a full time Nurse in charge of the local Siver Chain Nursing post. Currently a Medical practitioner flies in for two days once a week. The tourist industry - mainly from April until September - witnesses an influx of over 1/4 million people passing through the Shire on the main North South coastal highway of which approx 110,000 actually come into the communities of Denham, Monkey Mia etc. There is an all-weather airstrip (Shark Bay Airport) which can accommodate conventional small jet aircraft on domestic routes.

The Shire of Shark Bay has a mild arid tropical climate, with mean daily maximum temperatures ranging from 22 °C (72 °F) in July to 32 °C (90 °F) in February. Rainfall is low and variable, with most rain falling in the winter months and a certain amount due to cyclone activity. The average annual rainfall is 228 mm.

More on [ Shark Bay, Western Australia ]

NEWS.com.au | Western Australia

Premier admits website was mistake
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:41:00 -0000
WEST Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has been forced to defend his handling of an ALP website lampooning former Opposition leader Troy Buswell, admitting it should never have been set up.
Man ingested 91 heroin pellets - AFP
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:23:00 -0000
A ZIMBABWEAN man has been charged with attempting to smuggle heroin internally on a flight from South Africa to Perth, authorities say.
Wikipedia vandals target tired, tiny pollies
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:35:00 -0000
WIKIPEDIA hackers are targeting West Australian politicians as the election nears - and it's keeping editors on their toes.
Health boss cleared of wrongdoing
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:27:00 -0000
A FORMER West Australian and NSW health department boss will be acquitted on 100 charges of wrongfully claiming expenses, despite a finding he acted dishonestly.
Video released in serial killer probe
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:04:00 -0000
WEST Australian police are asking the public to help identify the mystery man seen talking to Claremont serial killer victim Jane Rimmer outside the hotel where she disappeared.
Plane lands on street
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:09:00 -0000
A SINGLE-engined plane made a forced landing on a road in a semi-rural area south of Perth today.

Subscribe to Western_Australia RSS feed