Map of King George Sound drawn using Paint

Princess Royal Harbour is a part of

King George Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...

on the

South coast of Western Australia The south coast of Western Australia comprises the Western Australian coastline from Cape Leeuwin to Eucla. This is a distance of approximately , fronting the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean. Components The Bureau of Meteorology ...

, and harbour to Albany. On its northern shore is the

Port of Albany The Port of Albany is located within Princess Royal Harbour in King George Sound on the south coast of Western Australia, in the Great Southern region. Location The port is located on the northern shore of Princess Royal Harbour, a natural ...

. The name ''Princess Royal'' also appears in Albany in Princess Royal Fortress and Princess Royal Drive.

History

The first European to explore the waters was

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

in HMS ''Discovery'' in September 1791; he named the harbour after Princess

Charlotte Augusta Matilda Charlotte, Princess Royal (Charlotte Augusta Matilda; 29 September 1766 – 5 October 1828), was Queen of Württemberg as the wife of Frederick I of Württemberg, King Frederick I. She was the eldest daughter and fourth child of King George III o ...

, the first daughter and fourth child of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. The harbour was surveyed by

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 ...

in 1802,

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

in 1826,

John Lort Stokes Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer Crawford ...

in 1848, and

Henry Mangles Denham Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham (28 August 1800 – 3 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. Early career Denham entered the navy in 1809. He served on from 1810 to 1814, initially u ...

in 1858. The harbour was less than two metres deep until it was dredged in 1901, and its entrance was dredged in 1952. The Princess Royal Harbour was the departure location for a large convoy of Australian troops in November 1914. The entrance to the harbour was named

Ataturk Channel Atatürk Channel, also known as Atatürk Entrance is a water channel named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and located at King George Sound (Western Australia), King George Sound leading to Princess Royal Harbour in Albany, Western Australia, Alba ...

in 1985 (for

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

); it is also known as Atatürk Entrance.

Ecology

Water quality has been tested and monitored over time. The harbour is the location of a

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

meadow of

Posidonia ''Posidonia'' is a genus of flowering plants. It contains nine species of marine plants ("seagrass"), found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) accept this gen ...

References

External links

{{Coord, 35.0575, S, 117.8960, E, source:wikidata, display=title Albany, Western Australia King George Sound 1791 establishments in Australia