The Shark Bay area was first explored by Dirk Hartog, the Dutch seaman who made landfall on what is now Dirk Hartog Island on 25 October 1616. He saw little to recommend the area and sailed on.
Later, well known seafarers including the Englishman William Dampier and the French explorers Hamelin, Freycinet and Baudin all called by, but none stayed nor wrote of the area in glowing terms. Shark Bay remained isolated and deserted until the mid 19th Century when pearl shells and the precious insert they contained were found in the bay, in their thousands.
Denham was born. It has been described on the Australian Coral Coast website as "a ramshackle town that grew up around a pearling camp." How things have changed.
The modern town of Denham, the administrative centre for the Shire of Shark Bay is still not large. It now boasts a population of just over 600 permanent residents, but this blows out by thousands during the tourist season, when between April and September each year over 110,000 visit Denham and nearby Monkey Mia.
Tourism now provides employment for many of the town's population. Fishing and pastoral activities contribute to the local economy as does the large salt evaporation plant established across the bay at Useless Loop.
As this photo, courtesy of the Internet shows, Denham has developed along the shoreline of Shark Bay and its Esplanade is one of its main features.
Let me begin this tour of the town there, at the roundabout at the southern end of the Esplanade, a mere fifty metres from the gateway to our caravan park.
Looking south from here a row of large holiday apartments have been built to take in the views across the bay towards Steep Point and Useless Loop (don't you just love that name?)
At high tide there is not much beach to speak of, but it does improve when the water drops (as you will see in a later photo). I had this area highly recommended to me by several as a great spot from which to reel in whiting, but my two attempts were again thwarted by the wretched Western Australian blowfish.
Opposite the roundabout is the local IGA store. This was more than convenient, for us! Do note the large boat pulling in for fuel. These were to be seen in Denham in extraordinary numbers....Shark Bay is renowned for it fishing opportunities and those with large off-shore craft flock here over the season.
Looking north, the Esplanade stretches the length of the town, and houses most of the important local shops and offices
Next to the IGA is the Denham bakery, an establishment with a deservedly good reputation. We did visit on a few occasions but eschewed the purveyors of pizza at the rear of the block.
Now I would like to jump to the other end of the Esplanade and work our way back along it. Another roundabout marks its northern end, bounded beyond by the second Denham caravan park, a very large and crowded one.
So, folks, we are now looking south along the foreshore and the beginning of the rather pleasant park which abuts the water.
Walking south, we soon come across the first of three small Denham jetties. This caters for the myriad of private fishing craft which ply the waters of Shark Bay daily,
and, as can be seen from the boat trailer car park, there were plenty of them out there.
At the northern end of the car park is this short working wharf,
and beyond that another relatively short jetty, also used by the local fishing fleet and other working boats. Unfortunately this was closed to the public during our stay. The rather odd looking craft to the left of the jetty is a dredge which was sucking up silt from the seabed and pumping it through a large pipeline to the northern end of the seafront, much to the annoyance of those in the other park. One of their selling points is the fact that they provide direct beach access....but not when the dredge spoil is being dumped....it stank!
Another irritating aspect of this work was the fact that this is the jetty from which squid are taken in the evening. I had heard of this possibility and was keen, but it was not to be.
At this end of town we find the Shark Bay Hotel. This was a bit of a hoof from our park. We found a perfectly acceptable watering hole much closer and so Mine Host at the Shark Bay pub did not see any of our coin.
A little further along the Esplanade the impressive bulk of the Shark Bay Discovery Centre looms over the green lawns of the foreshore park.
In the courtyard of this very well used facility is another memorial to the lost sailors of HMAS Sydney in the form of a large glass panel with all their names included on it.
The importance of the natural resource of the Shark Bay area is highlighted by the size of the building which houses the personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department.
The offices of the Shire of Shark Bay are more than modest by comparison.
Opposite this 'civic centre' of town the foreshore park boasts a good children's playground,
with the lawns and picnic tables extending on further to the southern end of the foreshore.
This was an area of the seafront we visited more than once. Looking out over the water is the Denham Waterfront Hotel. We did spend quite a few happy hours on the first floor balcony of this fine establishment with our good old mates from Bremer Bay days, Yvonne and Les. And it was here that we met a charming Canberra couple, Olivia and Dean. They have become good friends on the road.
.jpg)
Before we leave the waterfront to take a quick tour around the top of the town, I must share this snippet with you as an example of how promotional brochure photos should be viewed with a great deal of caution. This old Denham cutter features in many, such as this which I acknowledge as coming from the Australian Coral Coast website.
This is what we saw. Buyer beware!
On this note I shall leave 'the front', as I headed out to the northern end of the town and the high ground of Nicholson Point. Here I met one of the Denham locals for the first time. Emus can oft be seen actually wandering along the main roads of Denham, quite unconcerned by human presence.
I paused here briefly to look back south across the town
and to pan further to the right over the bay and the many small craft at their moorings on the beautifully blue water.
At this end of town we find the quite impressive local primary school (seen here through the lens adorned by one of our constant Denham companions...a bush fly)
and the equally imposing Denham recreational centre.
Seen here from the other side of the local oval over which it imposes its presence, this building has been designed and constructed to act as the community refuge centre in the event of a cyclone. We were soon to understand the value of these community facilities, but not in Denham.
And finally, as is my want, I toddled off past some of the rather grand homes of this end of town
to find the local War Memorial.
This is located on a road a level above our chosen caravan park and offers another fine view over the Esplanade rooftops to the waters of Shark Bay. We had read that the local RSL is quite active, but did not have time to attempt to meet and greet.
Tomorrow we are off to the supposed jewel in the Shark Bay tourist crown, Monkey Mia. I shall do so with an open mind, but I am prepared to be unimpressed by another highly commercialised tourist trap....we shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment