Deepdene Coast

Deepdene Coast occupies the ocean margin of Western Australia, the continent’s largest state. The coastline runs from the tropical north to temperate southern waters. In the west and north it faces the Indian Ocean; south of the continent, Australian official usage calls the same broad body part of the Southern Ocean. The shore is not one uniform environment. Its hinterland includes Kimberley sandstone gorges, the drier Pilbara and Carnarvon shrublands, the Southwest Australia savanna, and the Jarrah-Karri forests around the southwest corner. Offshore currents and coastal habitats therefore connect several distinct climatic and ecological worlds.

People have crossed and used these waters for many generations. Indigenous peoples have lived in Western Australia for tens of thousands of years, and Dutch voyagers reached its coast in the seventeenth century. British colonization began with the Swan River Colony in 1829, while gold discoveries later drew large populations inland. Along the coast, fishing and maritime trade became enduring parts of the economy. Rock lobster, prawns, crabs, shark, and tuna have supplied local and export markets, and pearling developed in the Kimberley. These activities show the coast as a working boundary between inland settlements and productive ocean waters.