William Bay

William Bay National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, 369 km (229 mi) southeast of Perth and between the towns of Denmark and Walpole.

William Bay National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, 369 km (229 mi) southeast of Perth and between the towns of Denmark and Walpole.

The traditional owners of the area are the Minang peoples. Indigenous Australians have inhabited the area for between 40,000 and 50,000 years. Artefacts including pieces of stone tools have been found in the park at Lights Beach, Lake Byleveld and Parry Inlet.William Bay was named after the famed British Arctic explorer and navigator, Sir William Edward Parry, as were two other nearby features, Parry Inlet and Edward Point. The bay was named in the 1830s by John Septimus Roe.

The area was declared as a national park in 1971 with an area of 4,644 acres (1,879 ha).A small reserve with an area of 29.5 ha (73 acres) located near the north east end of the park that encompasses Lake Bylveld was added to the park in the 1980s.The park is a popular tourist destination with 137,000 visitors in 2006–2007, 208,000 in 2010-2011 and 238,000 visitors in 2014–2015.