Hamelin Bay is a bay and a locality on the southwest coast of Western Australia between

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...

and

Cape Naturaliste Cape Naturaliste is a headland in the south western region of Western Australia at the western edge of the Geographe Bay. It is the northernmost point of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge which was named after the cape. Also the Leeuwin-Naturaliste ...

. It is named after French explorer

Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin Baron Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin (13 October 1768 – 23 April 1839) was a rear admiral of the French navy and later a Baron. He commanded numerous naval expeditions and battles with the Royal Navy as well as exploratory voyages in the In ...

, who sailed through the area in about 1801. It is south of Cape Freycinet. To the north, the beach leads to the '' Boranup Sand Patch'' and further to the mouth of the

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range. ...

, while south leads to

. The nearest locality to the east is Karridale on the

to Augusta road. It was also a small settlement and port in

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 ...

on the coast of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge.

Port and jetty

The jetty was established to service the timber milling operations of Davies, at the same time as utilising a jetty at

Flinders Bay Flinders Bay is a bay and locality that is immediately south of the townsite of Augusta, and close to the mouth of the Blackwood River. The locality and bay lies to the north east of Cape Leeuwin which is the most south-westerly mainland poin ...

just south of Augusta. One of the Davies timber railways extended onto the Hamelin Bay Jetty, which was built in 1882 and extended in 1898. Only a few piles of the original jetty remain on site.

Tourist attractions

The Cape to Cape Track runs across the beach to the west of the town, making Hamelin Bay one of the few settlements located along the track.

Camping area

Although most of the adjacent land is now vested in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, small amounts of land nearby are freehold. In the 1950s the local camping area utilised the shells of a large number of decommissioned Perth trams. None remain, and in addition to unpowered and powered camp sites there are now a small number of on-site cabins and a handful of chalets with modern facilities. A number of camp sites have been removed to accommodate these structures. A shop and ablution blocks are located within the camping area. Due to the nature of the camping area and the local weather conditions there are frequently total fire bans in the camping area.

Wrecks

Hamelin Bay was difficult to navigate due to reefs and rocks in the vicinity. Hamelin Bay was notorious for wrecks occurring during bad weather – its exposure to prevailing weather making it a dangerous location for anchoring or mooring. Some fishing boats continue to utilize the anchorage when prevailing weather is not a problem. The

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

's database of wrecks includes numerous vessels that foundered in or near Hamelin Bay. An anchor from one of the wrecks was retrieved and is now situated in the beach car park at Hamelin Bay. The storm of 22 July 1900 was a serious event at Hamelin. Wrecks include: * ''Agincourt'', 1863 * ''Arcadia'', 25 April 1900 – wooden

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 ...

* ''Aristide'', 25 October 1889 – wooden

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

* ''Chaudiere'', 4 July 1883 – barque * ''Else'' (formerly ''Albert William''), 2 September 1900 –

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

* ''Glenbervie'', 20 June 1900 * ''Hokitika'', 2 November 1872 – barque * ''Katinka'', 22 July 1900 – iron * ''Lövspring'', 22 July 1900 – wooden barque * ''Nor'wester'', 22 July 1900 – iron barque * ''Tobar'', 1945 –

lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...

* SS ''Waterlily'', 31 January 1903 –

clinker built Clinker built (also known as lapstrake) is a method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank. The techniq ...

screw steamer A screw steamer or screw steamship is an old term for a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine, using one or more propellers (also known as ''screws'') to propel it through the water. Such a ship was also known as an "iron screw steam shi ...

Whale strandings

Hamelin Bay and environs have been the site of a number of

whale strandings Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide ...

, some of which are listed below: * 1996, 320

long-finned pilot whales The long-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala melas'') is a large species of oceanic dolphin. It shares the genus '' Globicephala'' with the short-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala macrorhynchus''). Long-finned pilot whales are known as such bec ...

, just north of the bay, in Western Australia's largest known stranding * March 2018, over 150

short-finned pilot whales The short-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala macrorhynchus'') is one of the two species of cetaceans in the genus '' Globicephala'', which it shares with the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas''). It is part of the oceanic dolphin family (Delp ...

Attempts to save the mammals have usually failed. In addition to concerns for the animals themselves, the strandings are considered to increase the risk of

shark attack A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1 ...

, due to the attraction of the dead whales.

Light station

A light station on nearby

Hamelin Island Hamelin Island lies north of Cape Hamelin, just out to sea from the former Hamelin Bay Jetty, on Hamelin Bay, on the south west coast of Western Australia, about 7 km north of Cape Leeuwin. The location of the island, and its protection of part ...

was built in 1937. In 1967 it was moved to the mainland, and is now known as ''Foul Bay Lighthouse''.

Railway

Detail of Hamelin Karridale Boranup links at M C Davies era

The M C Davies railway connected Hamelin Bay jetty with Karridale, Boranup, and Flinders Bay. In 1925 the railway formations were incorporated into the connecting

Flinders Bay Branch Railway The Flinders Bay Branch Railway, also known as the Boyanup to Flinders Bay Section ran between Boyanup and Flinders Bay, in South Western Western Australia. The section from Flinders Bay to Busselton has now been converted into a rail trai ...

Adjacent features also named after Hamelin

* Cape Hamelin * Hamelin Island