Shark Bay

Introducing Shark Bay

World Heritage-listed Shark Bay incorporates two stunning peninsulas running parallel to the mainland and surrounded by a rich marine park. It’s an outstanding example of an ongoing geological process (the shaping of its seabed by seagrass); a unique natural phenomenon (its hypersaline marine waters); an outstanding example of a major stage in earth’s evolutionary history (the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool); and it has important habitats where threatened animal species survive. What makes a visit to Shark Bay so satisfying is that you can experience all of these extraordinary features.

Originally inhabited by the Malgana, Nhanda and Inggarda peoples, who depended on both the sea and bush for their subsistence, there are now opportunities for visitors to take indigenous cultural tours to learn about the land from their perspective. The local people were probably the first indigenous Australians to encounter Europeans – Shark Bay was the site of the first recorded landing by a European on Australian soil, when, in 1616, Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog anchored at the island that now bears his name, just off Denham, Shark Bay’s main town.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009