D'Entrecasteaux National Park

D’Entrecasteaux National Park is an important conservation area of wild, pristine beauty, with white beaches, rugged coastal cliffs and towering karri forests.

The park is a narrow strip of land 5 to 20km wide, stretching along the south coast for more than 130km between Augusta and Walpole. It is the result of the amalgamation of various State forests and timber reserves, Crown land, Shire of Manjimup reserves, conservation reserves, pastoral leases and freehold purchases between the 1970s and 1990s.

There is evidence that Noongar people have lived in South-West Australia for over 47,000 years. The oldest archeological evidence at D’Entrecasteaux is dated at 6000 years, although this does not mean it wasn’t occupied earlier than this. Erosion of sand dunes within the park has revealed numerous stone artifacts, fish traps, quarry sites, mythological and burial sites. The majority of these are located around the Lake Jasper/ Meerup Dunes area, a place of particular archeological and cultural significance to the Noongar people. Artifacts have been found 10m below Lake Jasper’s current water levels, indicating a number of major campsites existed here when the lake was a prehistoric forest.

Wandjoo ngaalang kwoba/moorditj boodjar,

Nyoondool djinang ngaalang kwobidak Wardan, balyoongar, bilya, worl wer djinda kada werda ngaalang miya,

Ngaalang koort kalyakoorl nidja.

Welcome to our good/strong country,

You will see our beautiful sea, sand, rivers, sky and stars across our place,

Our heart always here.

Point D’Entrecasteaux was named in 1792 when French Admiral Bruni D’Entrecasteaux sailed past on a French scientific expedition; the park takes its name from the point. Apart from sealers and whalers, little interest was shown in the area until the 1850s, when pastoralists began to settle in nearby communities like Pemberton and Manjimup. These settlers used to take their cattle to the coast to graze on summer coastal pastures, a practice which continued up to the 1980s. Some of their droving tracks were later formalised into vehicle tracks and a few of the huts they used to stay in can still be found in the park. In 1911, the iron barque Mandalay was wrecked off Mandalay Beach. The wreck can still be seen when the tides and sand are favourable.

The park’s impressive natural features include (but are not limited to) the hexagonal-shaped basalt columns at Black Point and the 10km long Yeagarup Dunes, the largest land-locked mobile dune system in the southern hemisphere. Inland from the coast is a series of lakes and swamps, including Lake Yeagarup and Lake Jasper, which is the largest freshwater lake in the southern half of the state. Major rivers which flow through the park are the Warren, the Donnelly and the Shannon.

Vegetation is mostly coastal heathlands, grasslands and low woodlands, with scattered pockets of karri forest. Mount Chudalup, a large granite outcrop, boasts a unique ecosystem with 42 species of moss, 28 species of lichen and six species of liverwort, some of which are found nowhere else. Much of the biologically diverse flora of the south-west is represented in the park, with more than 850 native plant species to be found here.

D’Entrecasteaux is home to a number of threatened species, including woylies, quokkas and the chudditch. New Zealand fur-seals have been seen at Black Point. Other animals which can be seen include possums, wallabies and bandicoots. Southern right whales migrate along the coast from September to November. Sandy Island is an important nesting site for flesh-footed shearwaters and Lake Jasper and Lake Maringup are recognised as two of the five most important wetlands for waterbirds on the south coast.

D’Entrecasteaux National Park is approximately 20 minutes from Pemberton, or approximately four and a half hours from Perth. A few sites in the park are accessible by all vehicles, but most require a 4WD. Travelling within the park will also take some time, as tracks are sand and cannot be taken at speed.

This information was provided by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions: dpaw.wa.gov.au