The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative

regions of Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is divided into regions according to a number of systems. The most common system is the WA Government division of the state into regions for economic development purposes, which comprises nine defined regions; however, t ...

. It is located in the northwest 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 ...

, and consists of the

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

of Carnarvon,

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Histo ...

, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

coastline; extends inland about ; and has an area of , Estimated resident population, 30 June 2019. including islands.

Population

The Gascoyne has the lowest population of any region of Western Australia, with about 9,277 people. The majority of residents are non-Aboriginal people born in Australia (74%). Just over half live in Carnarvon (4,426) where Aboriginal residents account for 18% of the population. Other centres are

, Denham, Gascoyne Junction and Coral Bay.

Climate

The Gascoyne has a moderate arid tropical, climate. It is generally warm all year round, with mean maximum daily temperatures ranging from in July to in January. The region receives about 320 days of sunshine per year. Annual rainfall is low and variable, averaging about , most of which occurs as a result of cyclonic activity. Because of the semi-arid climate, most of the Gascoyne is covered in scrub, primarily spinifex and mulga, with very little tree cover.

Economy

Horticulture is the major industry of the Gascoyne region. Bananas, tomatoes, grapefruit, mangoes, table grapes and a range of vegetable products are grown along the

Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...

. Climatic advantages enable the growers to meet out-of-season demand both locally and in export markets. Fishing is also a major industry with prawn, scallop, crab and wet line fishing operations based in Carnarvon and Exmouth. In the mining sector, salt and gypsum are mined at Lake MacLeod, north of Carnarvon. Tourism is an important industry, due to the warm dry climate and the long coastline, which includes the

Ningaloo Reef The Ningaloo Coast is a World Heritage Site located in the north west coastal region of Western Australia. The heritage-listed area is located approximately north of Perth, along the East Indian Ocean. The distinctive Ningaloo Reef that fring ...

and the Shark Bay World Heritage Site. The pastoral industry was historically important but is no longer a major contributor to the economy. It represents the region's main land use: in 1994 84% of the Gascoyne's land area was covered by pastoral leases.

History

Before its discovery by Europeans, the Gascoyne had been home to

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 ...

for thousands of years. The first known European to land in the region was

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; other early visitors include

Willem Jansz Willem Janszoon (; ), sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 16031611 and 16121616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of ...

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

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 ...

, and Phillip King. In September 1834 the presence of pearl shell and guano were noted by Thomas Hunt of the schooner ''Monkey'', while searching for the wreck of the

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

''Mercury''. Shark Bay became the site of Australia's first

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

ing industry when production of

mother-of-pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

began in January 1850. In 1839,

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

explored the area and named the

after Captain John Gascoyne RN, son of Bamber Gascoyne, a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty. Captain Gascoyne was a committee member of the London-based ''Western Australian Missionary Society'' and a member of the ''London Association for the Protection of the Interests of the Colony''. In 1858

Francis Gregory Francis Hoyt Gregory (October 9, 1789 – October 4, 1866) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 through to the Civil War, serving then as a rear admiral. Early life Gregory was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of ...

explored the region and subsequently publicized it as highly suitable to

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as " livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The a ...

. Settlement began in the 1860s, and the town of Carnarvon was gazetted in 1883. By 1880 the area was home to approximately 20,000 sheep on a number of

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 ...

s in the area. In 2021, 4 year old girl Cleo Smith was abducted and later found in Carnarvon.

2010 floods

* December 2010 Gascoyne River flood

References

External links

Gascoyne Development Commission
{{coord, -22, 115, display=title Regions of Western Australia