Cape Arid National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

located in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, southeast of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The park is situated east of Esperance and lies on the shore of the

south coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

from the eastern end of the

Recherche Archipelago The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encomp ...

. The bay at its eastern side is

Israelite Bay Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia. Situated in the Shire of Esperance local government area, it lies east of Esperance and the Cape Arid National Park, within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve and the Grea ...

, a locality often mentioned in

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...

weather reports as a geographical marker. The western end is known as Duke of Orleans Bay. Its coastline is defined by Cape Arid, a bay called Sandy Bight and, further east, Cape Pasley.

History

The first European to discover the area was the French Admiral

Bruni D'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while ...

in 1792 and he named it ''Cap Aride'';

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

anglicized the name in 1802 and the park took its name from this feature. Pioneer graziers arrived in the area in the 1870s and the ruins of homesteads, dams and buildings as well as gravesites can be found near Pine Hill and Thomas Fishery. Bay whaling was conducted by Thomas Sherratt at Barrier Anchorage in the 1870s. John Thomas also seems to have had a bay whaling operation in the 1860s at Thomas's Fishery. As a result of the 2015 Esperance bushfires up to 90% of the remaining

Western Ground Parrot The western ground parrot (''Pezoporus flaviventris''; Noongar name ''kyloring'') is an endangered species of parrot endemic to Western Australia and is a close relative of the eastern ground parrot (''Pezoporus wallicus'') and the somewhat more ...

habitat within the park was burned. Much of the habitat had already been burned by a bushfire in Cape Arid National Park during October of the same year. Prior to the fires, there were believed to be only 140 individual parrots living in the wild, and the number was estimated to have been reduced to only 30–40 as a result of the damage caused by the fires. The widespread destruction of dense vegetation the ground-dwelling birds rely on for nesting prompted discussion that the critically endangered parrot could "... become the first bird in at least 200 years to become extinct in Western Australia". Two parrots—a male and a female—were rescued from the Cape Arid fire ground and taken to

Perth Zoo Perth Zoo is a zoological park in South Perth, Western Australia. The zoo first opened in 1898 and by 2011 housed 1258 animals of 164 species and an extensive botanical collection. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Ass ...

for inclusion in a

captive breeding Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, botanic gardens, and other conservation facilities. It is sometimes employed to help species that ...

program, however both birds died in captivity.

Environment

Geography

The area is composed of sandy beaches and rocky headlands to the south with low

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

hills extending to the north to join the jagged Russell Range that is primarily composed of pre-cambrian

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

. The highest point of the park is Tower Peak, located within the Range, which reaches a height of . Sand-plains that are rich in flora surround the hill areas. The eastern boundary of the park joins the western side of

Nuytsland Nature Reserve Nuytsland Nature Reserve is a protected area of Western Australia in the south-eastern part of the state, on the south coast. Geography Nominally located at 32° 18' S 125° 52' E, it has an area of 6,253.44 km², and takes in over 500&nbs ...

Ngadju Indigenous Protected Area Ngadju Indigenous Protected Area is an Indigenous Protected Area in Western Australia. It covers an area of 43.993.01 km2 in the Goldfields-Esperance region. The protected area was established in 2020. The Ngadju people serve as traditional cus ...

adjoins the park on the north.

Fauna

A wide variety of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

exists within the park which supports a wide variety of flora and fauna. The park is an important site for the bird life in Western Australia. It is home to over 160 species of birds including some that are endangered and restricted. Some of the birds found in the park include: the

western ground parrot The western ground parrot (''Pezoporus flaviventris''; Noongar name ''kyloring'') is an endangered species of parrot endemic to Western Australia and is a close relative of the eastern ground parrot (''Pezoporus wallicus'') and the somewhat more ...

, the

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...

, Carnaby's cockatoo and

Cape Barren geese The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae'') is a large goose resident in southern Australia. Etymology The species' common name is derived from Cape Barren Island, where specimens were first sighted by European explorers. It is known ...

. Fauna that can be found include the

western brush wallaby The western brush wallaby (''Notamacropus irma''), also known as the black-gloved wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in the southwestern coastal region of Western Australia. The wallaby's main threat is predation by the introduced red fox (' ...

quenda The southern brown bandicoot (''Isoodon obesulus'') is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. It is also known as the quenda in South Western Australia (from the Noongar word ''). Taxonomy George Shaw ...

, the southern

bush rat The bush rat or Australian bush rat (''Rattus fuscipes'') is a small Australian Nocturnality, nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria ...

, many small

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

predators and a variety of

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s and

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s. A rare and primitive species of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Nothomyrmecia ''Nothomyrmecia'', also known as the dinosaur ant or dawn ant, is an extremely rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, ''Nothomyrmecia macrops''. These ants live in South Australia, nesting in old-growth mallee woodland and ''Eucalyp ...

'' is thought to inhabit the area.

Flora

Vegetation found within the park is mostly on young dune systems that have large communities of coastal heath with smaller systems of

yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol city centre and from the centre of Bath, Somerset, Bath, with regular rail services ...

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...

paperbark ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

and mallee. Species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s exist near Mount Ragged including a small population of the sticky-tail flower (''Anthocersis viscosa'').

Trails

Many walk trails can be found in the park, including the Len Otte Nature Trail, Tagon Coastal Trail, Boolenup Walk Trail and walks up both Mount Ragged and Mount Arid. The most accessible campsite is at Thomas River with conventional drive access,

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

s, toilets and water tanks. Other campsites at Mount Ragged, Poison Creek and Deal Creek are only accessible by

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

vehicles.

References

{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Goldfields-Esperance Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands Protected areas established in 1969 Whaling stations in Australia South coast of Western Australia