Shark Bay - Culture and History

Shark Bay was first named by William Dampier on his second voyage to Australia in 1699. Dampier wrote in A Voyage to New Holland: ŒThe Sea­fish that we saw here (for here was no River, Land or Pond of fresh Water to be seen) are chiefly Sharks. There are Abundance of them in this particular Sound, and I therefore give it the Name of Shark¹s Bay...¹Twas the 7th of August when we came into Shark¹s Bay; in which we Anchor¹d at three several Places, and stay¹d at the first of them (on the W. side of the Bay) till the 11th. During which time we searched about, as I said, for fresh Water, digging Wells, but to no purpose.¹

In spite of Dampier¹s rather jaundiced assessment of the area Shark Bay is truly magnificent. A jewel in the West Australian coast - white sand beaches edged by aquamarine waters and dark Prussian blue waters stretching to the horizon.

The WA Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) has published Shark Bay: Discover Monkey Mia & Other Natural Wonders which, apart from having some truly wonderful photographs of the region (although who knows why the Tropic of Capricorn shot was included - it is nearly 300 km north of Denham), does have an excellent and interesting coverage of the region. Its detailed coverage of the fauna and flora of the area is particularly good. In Australian Geographic (Issue 14 - April/June, 1989) there is a lengthy article titled simply Shark Bay.