Edel Land National Park is a proposed national park located in the Gascoyne Region of

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 ...

, located north of the state's capital

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 i ...

. The national park is also a part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site and lies south of

Steep Point Steep Point () is the westernmost point of mainland Australia. It is located within the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, north of the state's capital Perth, in the proposed Edel Land National Park. It is also a part of the Shark Bay ...

, which was named in 1697 by

Willem de Vlamingh Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh (November 1640 – ) was a Dutch sea captain who explored the central west coast of New Holland ( Australia) in the late 17th century, where he landed in what is now Perth on the Swan River. The mission proved fruit ...

calling it ‘Steyle Hock’ when he was anchored adjacent to the cliffs at the southern side of

Dirk Hartog Island A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

.https://www.sharkbay.org/place/edel-land-steep-point/ Edel Land - Steep Point

History

The park is located on the traditional country of the Malgana people. Edel Land was an important place for

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. Tools were created using stone from a natural quarry at Crayfish Bay. Food was available in the form of fish, as well as the flora located in the park. Fresh water was sourced from Willyah Mia, on the eastern shore of the peninsula. The earliest European exploration of the region was by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

explorer

Dirk Hartog Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artefact to record his ...

in 1616. Hartog landed on the nearby island, now named

. Hartog was the first European to land on the western coastline of Australia.

References

{{Reflist Shark Bay