Irwin Inlet is an inlet in the located on the Great Southern 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 ...

. It was also known as Quarram Inlet. The inlet receives water from two main sources,

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

of the north west and

Kent River The Kent River is a river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course withou ...

to the north east. The inlet itself discharges into the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

via Foul Bay. The inlet is approximately east of Walpole and west of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The

South Coast Highway South Coast Highway is a Western Australian highway. It is a part of the Highway 1 network. With a length of , it runs from Esperance to Walpole roughly in parallel to Western Australia's south coast. Even then the journey is pretty much i ...

is about north of the inlet. A sandbar across the entrance to the inlet on the ocean side, but this is often breached during the winter. The inlet bisects Peaceful Bay beach. The inlet is a wave dominated estuary with a total area of ; it is estimated that 30% of the catchment is cleared. The inlet is slowly turning into swampland as a result of its high sediment loading and shallow depth. The basin supports large

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s and is used as a commercial fishery. The

Bibbulmun Track The Bibbulmun Track is a long-distance walk trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda in the east of Perth to Albany, and is long. It is managed by government agencies, and has a foundation. It traverses the Darling Range and has i ...

crosses Irwin Inlet, and canoes are provided in sheds on either side of the track for hikers to make the crossing with. The channel is wide at the point where it must be crossed.

References

{{coord, 34, 58, 23, S, 116, 58, 28, E, source:enwiki-plaintext-parser, display=title Great Southern (Western Australia) Inlets of Western Australia South coast of Western Australia