Peron Peninsula (Malgana:Wulybidi)[1][full citation needed] is a long narrowpeninsula located in theShark Bay World Heritage site inWestern Australia, at about25°51′S113°30′E / 25.850°S 113.500°E /-25.850; 113.500. It is some 130 kilometres (81 mi) long, running north-northwesterly, located east ofHenri Freycinet Harbour and west of Havre Hamelin andFaure Island. It is the largest of the Shark Bay peninsulas. Significant settlements includeDenham andMonkey Mia.Shark Bay Airport is located there.It is the location of formerPastoral leases Peron and Nanga stations, and is the main location of land access to points within the World Heritage site. The northern area contains theFrancois Peron National Park. It is surrounded by theShark Bay Marine Park and its lower southeast part is adjacent to theHamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.
TheTaillefer Isthmus, the narrowest section of the peninsula, is between Nanga and Goulet Bluff – which hasShell Beach located on the eastern side which lies in theL'Haridon Bight.
The northernmost point is Cape Peron, which is a namesake ofCape Peron in the metropolitanPerth coastal area.
The peninsula is named for French naturalistFrançois Péron, who visited the area with theGeographe expeditions of 1801 and 1803.[2] The peninsula was used as a sheep station from the late 1880s until being purchased by the national government in 1990. In 1919 Peron Peninsula Station had a total area of 106,000 hectares (263,000 acres) divided into 25 paddocks and was stocked with 12,000 sheep.[3]
The Peron Historical Homestead is near Denham.[4][5][6]
It includes a visitor center. Peron Peninsula is part of the Carnarvon Basin, a geological structure lacking permanent fresh surface water. During the 1900s artesian bores were sunk to provide a greater quantity and quality of water. The resulting water comes up hot (35–60 °C or 95–140 °F) and has high salt and mineral content.[7][full citation needed]
(available as a photocopy atBattye Library)
26°06′22″S113°40′02″E / 26.10611°S 113.66722°E /-26.10611; 113.66722
Australian places named by French explorers in the 18th and 19th centuries | ||
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| South Australia |
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| Western Australia | ||
Only places with the name still in use in either the original oranglicised version are listed above. Many names have been anglicised; for these the original French name appears in brackets. | ||