Francois Peron National Park is a national park on the

Peron Peninsula Peron Peninsula is a long narrow peninsula located in the Shark Bay World Heritage site in Western Australia, at about 25°51' S longitude and 113°30' E latitude. It is some long, running north-northwesterly, located east of Henri Freycin ...

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 ...

, 726 km north 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 ...

, and located within the boundary of the Shark Bay World Heritage area. The nearest towns to the park are Denham, which is found on the southern edge of the park and Carnarvon which is found about to the north. Salt Covered

Names and earlier uses

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

were the initial inhabitants of the area and have been living there for over 26,000 years. The local peoples who speak the Malgana language call the area ''Wulyibidi''. It is named after the French naturalist and explorer

François Péron François Auguste Péron (22 August 1775 – 14 December 1810) was a French naturalist and explorer. Life Péron was born in Cérilly, Allier, in 1775, the son of a tailor (not a harness maker as is frequently asserted). Although intended for ...

who was the zoologist aboard

Nicolas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific. Biography Early career Born a comm ...

's 1801 and 1803 scientific expeditions to Western Australia, and is situated within the bounds of the earlier

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

of the Peron Station. Locations from the French exploration era include: * Guichenault (east coast of the Peron Peninsula) * Cape Lesueur (west coast of the Peron Peninsula) * Lake Montbazin A pearling camp was established on the peninsula at Herald Bight in the 1880s and the remains of the shells can still be found along the beach. Used as a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

from the early 1900s onwards the station was sold to the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

in 1990. It was gazetted on 8 January 1993 as a National Park – through the purchase of Peron Station (Pastoral Lease 3114/761) in 1990.Map 4, and page 7 of Hancock, Sue, Brown, Paul and Stephens, Burke (2000) ''Shark Bay Terrestrial Reserves Management Plan 2000- 2009'' Perth, Western Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management for the National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority

Location

It is adjacent to and surrounded by the

Shark Bay Marine Park The Shark Bay Marine Park is protected marine park located within the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Shark Bay, in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The marine park is situated over north of Perth and north of Geraldton. The marine ...

to the west, north and east, and by the Denham to

Monkey Mia Monkey Mia is a popular tourist destination located about 900 km north of Perth, Western Australia. The reserve is 25 km northeast of the town of Denham in the Shark Bay Marine Park and World Heritage Site. The main attraction are t ...

road to the south.

Facilities

Picnic, boat launching and camping areas along the west coast of the Peninsula include: * Big Lagoon * Cape Lesueur * Cattle Well * South Gregories * Gregories * Bottle Bay Red cliffs at Bottle Bay

References

External links

Francois Peron National Park page
at the Department of Parks and Wildlife website
Francois Peron National Park page
at SharkBay.org

at the Shire of Shark Bay website {{authority control National parks of Western Australia Shark Bay Protected areas established in 1993

Names and earlier uses

Location

Facilities

See also

References

Further reading

External links