Stokes National Park is a national park in the Goldfields-Esperance 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 ...

, 538 km south-east 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 National Park is located west of Esperance on the southern coast. The park was named after

Stokes Inlet Stokes Inlet is an inlet in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The inlet is situated west of Esperance in Stokes National Park and is set is a large river valley with permanent deep water and high dunes located on either si ...

, which lies within the park and is its best known feature, which was in turn named in 1848 by

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in t ...

the

Surveyor General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices. ...

while leading a five-man exploration expedition along the coast, commemorating

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 ...

' work on surveying the Western Australian coast. The area of the park is excluding that is part of the historic Moir homestead. The park covers areas of coastal

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

and

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

, smaller areas of low dense

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and sandy beaches around the inlet and coast to the south of the park. The National Park is on a relinquished pastoral lease, originally known as Fanny Cove Station, which in 1951 became Young River Station. It was then reverted to

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

and national park status by 1973. The Moir homestead ruins from the 1873 establishment at Fanny Cove were on a heritage list by 1993, but have since been destroyed by fire.

References

National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1976 Goldfields-Esperance {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub

See also

References