Coastal regions of Western Australia explained

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] 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.

The coastline has some features or organisms that are found on the entire length, while some others are specific to particular coastal regions.

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.

Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA)

The IMCRA has offshore regions delineated in a systematic appraisal of ecology and geography.^[3]

Coastal regions used in weather reports

Standard Bureau of Meteorology reports include the following reference points for coastal weather reports:^[4]

• 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

There are groupings for wider regions that are based very close to the land regions; one made in the 1980s^[5] has 8 coastal regions, while the 2003 Coastal Planning and Management Manual has five regions with component sections:^[6]

• 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: 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)

Fisheries bioregions

Under the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 there are four main regions on the Western Australian coast.^[7]

• 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: 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

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

• Admiralty Gulf
• Cambridge Gulf
• Exmouth Gulf
• Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Sounds

Specifically referring to Sound (geography)

• Camden Sound
• Cockburn Sound
• King Sound
• Yampi Sound
• York Sound
• King George Sound

Archipelagoes and island groups

• Archipelago of the Recherche
• Bonaparte Archipelago
• Buccaneer Archipelago
• Houtman Abrolhos
• Monte Bello Islands
• Thevenard Island
• Direction Island (Exmouth Gulf)

Aquatic flora

The Western Australian coastline has the greatest diversity of seagrasses in the world, and the meadows they form are among the largest on earth.^[8]

• 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

Australian context:

• Geology of Australia

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:

• Seagrasses of Western Australia

Further reading

Flora

• Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coastal Plants: Perth and the south-west region Second Edition, Crawley, W.A. University of Western Australia Press.

Conferences

• 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.

Locations

• Murray, Ian and Marion Hercock (2008) Where on the Coast is That? Victoria Park, Western Australia. Hesperian Press.

Government reports

• 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

Notes and References

1. Short, Andrew D (2005)Beaches of the Western Australian Coast: Eucla to Roeback Bay . page 1
2. Web site: Coastline Lengths . 18 November 2010 . Geoscience Australia . Commonwealth of Australia . 24 December 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110122025201/http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/coastline-lengths.html . 22 January 2011 .
3. Web site: Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA) - Home Page . https://web.archive.org/web/20180916193732/http://www.environment.gov.au/node/18075 . 2018-09-16 . environment.gov.au.
4. See the map at http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/wa-forecast-map.shtml for locations of the coastal forecast boundary locations
5. 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
6. 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. – http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2151782~S2 : web-based pdfs = http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/Plans+and+policies/Publications/312.aspx
7. Recreational fishing guides published by the Department of Fisheries (W.A.) in September 2008 map titled 'Western Australia's Fisheries Bioregions'
8. Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coast plants:Perth and the south-west region Second Edition. University of Western Australia Press. Crawley, Western Australia. . page 245 – also Part Three: Descriptions and Illustrations of the Seagrasses pp.243-260