Coastal regions of Western Australia
Commonly used Bureau of Meteorology coastal landmarks
Western Australia has the longest coastline of any state or territory in Australia, at 10,194 km[1] or 12,889 km (20,781 km including islands).[2][a] It is a significant portion of the coastline of Australia, which is 35,877 km (59,736 km including islands).[2]
The earliest full charting of the coastline occurred during exploration in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.[3]
The coastline has some features or organisms that are found on the entire length,[4] while some others are specific to particular coastal regions.[5][6]
Various government map posters have been created over time, which have examples of coastal form, or types of coast such as the 1984 map with photos.[7]
Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA)
[edit]The IMCRA has offshore regions delineated in a systematic appraisal of ecology and geography.[8]
Coastal regions used in weather reports
[edit]Standard Bureau of Meteorology reports include the following reference points for coastal weather reports:[9]
- North Kimberley Coast: WA/NT border (or to Kuri Bay}
- West Kimberley Coast: Kuri Bay to Wallal (Kimberley land region)
- Pilbara Coast East: Wallal Downs to Cape Preston (Pilbara land region)
- Pilbara Coast West: Cape Preston to North West Cape (Pilbara land region)
- Ningaloo Coast: Northwest Cape to Carnarvon (Gascoyne land region)
- Gascoyne Coast: north of Carnarvon to Kalbarri (Gascoyne land region)
- Geraldton Coast: north of Kalbarri to Jurien Bay (Central west land region)
- Lancelin Coast: Jurien Bay to Two Rocks (Lower west land region)
- Perth Local Waters: Two Rocks to Dawesville (Lower west land region and/or Perth Metropolitan region)
- Perth Coast:west of Rottnest and Perth Local Waters (same limits of Two Rocks and Dawesville)
- Bunbury Geographe Coast: Dawesville to Busselton, (part lower west and part south west land region)
- Leeuwin Coast: Busselton to west of Denmark (South west land region)
- Albany Coast: west of Denmark to Bremer Bay (south coast coastal land region)
- Esperance Coast: Bremer Bay to Israelite Bay (Southeast coastal land region)
- Eucla Coast: Israelite Bay to SA Border (Eucla land region)
General coastal regions
[edit]There are groupings for wider regions that are based very close to the land regions; one made in the 1980s[10] has 8 coastal regions, while the 2003 Coastal Planning and Management Manual has five regions with component sections:[11]
- Kimberley Coast: Northern Territory / Western Australia border to Broome (2003 manual, figure 2-2 Pilbara Kimberley Region)
- Canning: Broome to Port Hedland (Cape Keraudren – east of the De Grey River delta in the 2003 manual)
- Pilbara Coast: Port Hedland to Onslow
- Coral Coast or Gascoyne region – Onslow to Kalbarri (Shark Bay in the 2003 manual)
- Kalbarri to Cape Naturaliste: which includes, Batavia Coast, the Central West also known as the Turquoise Coast and another further south known at the Sunset Coast
- South West Capes, or simply Capes Region: Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin (to Albany in the 2003 manual)
- South Coast: Cape Leeuwin to Israelite Bay – incorporates the coastal region between Cape Leeuwin and Windy Harbour, usually considered part of the south west
- South Coast Region or the South East: Israelite Bay (Albany in the 2003 manual) to the Western Australia / South Australian border (Eucla)
Ports, settlements and towns
[edit]Fisheries bioregions
[edit]Under the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 there are four main regions on the Western Australian coast.[12]
- North Coast (Pilbara/Kimberley): from the Western Australian and Northern Territory border to 114° 50' E 21° 46' S, just west of the mouth of the Ashburton River
- Gascoyne Coast:[b] from 114° 50' E 21° 46' S, just west of the mouth of the Ashburton River Mouth to 27° S – about halfway between Kalbarri and Denham
- West Coast: from 27° S: about halfway between Kalbarri and Denham south to 115 ° 30' E – Black Point east of Cape Leeuwin
- South Coast: from 115 ° 30' E: Black Point east of Cape Leeuwin, to the South Australian Border
Features
[edit]The coastal regions include a range of beaches, cliffs, and coastline features that are dependent upon the underlying geology; the geological provinces have direct relationship to the coastal forms:
- Eucla Basin – Eucla – Israelite Bay – Limestone
- Yilgarn Craton – Point Malcolm – Cape Arid and Point Hood to Point D'Entrecasteaux
- Bremer Basin – Israelite Bay – Point D'Entrecasteaux
- Perth Basin – Augusta – Murchison River
- Carnarvon Basin – Murchison River – Cape Preston
- Pilbara craton – Cape Preston – Port Hedland
- Canning Basin – Port Hedland – King Sound
- Kimberley Basin – Kimberley Coast
- Bonaparte Basin – Cambridge Gulf
Gulfs
[edit]Sounds
[edit]Specifically referring to Sound (geography)
Archipelagoes and island groups
[edit]- Archipelago of the Recherche
- Bonaparte Archipelago
- Buccaneer Archipelago
- Houtman Abrolhos
- Monte Bello Islands
- Thevenard Island
- Direction Island (Exmouth Gulf)
Aquatic flora
[edit]The Western Australian coastline has the greatest diversity of seagrasses in the world, and the meadows they form are among the largest on earth.[13]
- Amphibolis antarctica, Wireweed, Sea Nymph
- Amphibolis griffithii
- Halophila australis
- Halophila decipiens
- Halophila ovalis, Paddle Weed, Sea Wrack
- Heterozostera tasmanica
- Posidonia angustifolia
- Posidonia australis, Fireball Weed
- Posidonia coriacea
- Posidonia denhartogii
- Posidonia robertsoniae
- Posidonia sinuosa
- Syringodium isoetifolium
- Thalassodendron pachyrhizum
See also
[edit]- Australian context
- Local features
- List of islands of Western Australia, 0–9, A–C and subsequent sections
- List of watercourses in Western Australia
- Regional divisions
- Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia
- Ecoregions in Australia
- Regions of Western Australia
- Plants and natural history
Notes
[edit]- ^ The length of a coastline may vary significantly depending on how it is measured.
- ^ Not to be confused with the tourist coast region which might have slightly different start and finish points from the fisheries designated coast
References
[edit]- ^ Short, Andrew D (2005)Beaches of the Western Australian Coast: Eucla to Roeback Bay ISBN 0-9586504-3-8. page 1
- ^ a b "Coastline Lengths". Geoscience Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. 18 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
- ^ Freycinet, Louis de, 1779-1842 (1919), [Chart of Western Australian coastline], H.J. Pether, Govt. Lithographer, retrieved 10 July 2015
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Wells, Fred E; Western Australian Museum (1978), The distribution of shallow-water marine prosobranch gastropod molluscs along the coastline of Western Australia, retrieved 10 July 2015
- ^ Bradshaw, Elizabeth (December 1995), "Dates from archaeological excavations on the Pilbara coastline and islands of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia", Australian Archaeology (41): 37–38, ISSN 0312-2417
- ^ Sircombe, K.N; Freeman, M.J (1 October 1999), "Provenance of detrital zircons on the Western Australia coastline – implications for the geologic history of the Perth basin and denudation of the Yilgarn craton.(Statistical Data Included)", Geology, 27 (10), Geological Society of America, Inc: 879(4), doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1999)027<0879:podzot>2.3.co;2, ISSN 0091-7613
- ^ Chape, Stuart; Hesp, P. A. (Patrick Alan); Western Australia. Coastal Management Co-ordinating Committee; Western Australia. Dept. of Agriculture; Western Australia. Dept. of Conservation and Environment (1984), Western Australian coastline, Coastal Management Coordinating Committee, retrieved 10 July 2015
- ^ "Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA) - Home Page". environment.gov.au. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018.
- ^ See the map at http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/wa-forecast-map.shtml Archived 2 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine for locations of the coastal forecast boundary locations
- ^ Woods, P.J and Eliot, Ian (1980) The Western Australian Coast being Number 6 of Coastal Management in Western Australia Bulletin Number 49 of the Department of Conservation and Environment
- ^ print form: Western Australian Planning Commission.(2003) Coastal planning and management manual : a community guide for protecting and conserving the West Australian Coast Perth, W.A. : Western Australian Planning Commission. ISBN 0-7309-9383-3 – http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2151782~S2 Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine: web-based pdfs = http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/Plans+and+policies/Publications/312.aspx Archived 21 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Recreational fishing guides published by the Department of Fisheries (W.A.) in September 2008 map titled 'Western Australia's Fisheries Bioregions'
- ^ Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coast plants:Perth and the south-west region Second Edition. University of Western Australia Press. Crawley, Western Australia. ISBN 1-920694-05-6. page 245 – also Part Three: Descriptions and Illustrations of the Seagrasses pp.243-260
Further reading
[edit]Flora
[edit]- Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coastal Plants: Perth and the south-west region Second Edition, Crawley, W.A. University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-920694-05-6
Conferences
[edit]- WA State Coastal Conference (3rd : 2005 : Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton, W.A.)
Title 3rd WA State Coastal Conference, Mandurah – Bunbury – Busselton, November 2005 : coastal solutions : balancing the waves of change : program and papers. Canning Bridge, W.A. : Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd, 2005. ISBN 1-86308-126-7
Locations
[edit]- Murray, Ian and Marion Hercock (2008) Where on the Coast is That? Victoria Park, Western Australia. Hesperian Press. ISBN 978-0-85905-452-2
Government reports
[edit]- Department of Conservation and Land Management, 1994: A Representative Marine Reserves
- System for Western Australia: Report of the Marine Parks and Reserves Selection Working Group (the Wilson Report).
- Government of Western Australia, 1998: New Horizons: the Way Ahead in Marine Conservation and Management.
- Government of Western Australia, 2002b: Focus on the Future: the Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy, Consultation Draft.
- Government of Western Australia, 2002c: A Biodiversity Conservation Act for Western Australia, Consultation Paper.
- Western Australian Planning Commission, 2001: Coastal Zone Management Policy for Western Australia, for public comment.
- Western Australian Planning Commission, 2002: Coastal Planning Program – Status of Coastal Planning in Western Australia 2001/02.
- Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003a: Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.6: StateCoastal Planning Policy.
- Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003b: Coastal Planning and Management Manual