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Esperance is located 725 km south-east of Perth, with wide sandy beaches, scenic
coastlines and the islands of the Recherche Archipelago, offshore, is known as
the ‘Bay of Isles’. They are named after a French frigate L’Esperance, with its companion
vessel Recherche, that sheltered from a storm in the bay while exploring the
coast of Western Australian in 1792. The agricultural heart of the district is
rimmed by spectacular coastline that stretches from near Munglinup in the west, to
Salmon Gums in the north and out to the edge of the Nullabor Plain on the east.
For most of the twentieth century the area around Esperance was regarded as too
infertile for intensive agriculture. It wasn’t until 1949 that the Esperance
Downs Research Station discovered that the local soil only needed additional
trace elements to make it fertile. This simple discovery turned the area into a
successful producer of wheat, sheep and cattle. The success of this venture is
vividly expressed in the fact that in 1954 there were 36 farmers on about 8,000
hectares and by the mid 1980s there were 600 farmers utilising over 400,000
hectares. Today Esperance thrives on agriculture, fishing, farm forestry and
tourism. For up-to-date information visit the tourist information centre. For
Esperance accommodation
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Curtin
University of Technology
